Economic impact from sports tourism in the Wenatchee Valley again reached its highest total in history in 2019, with an estimated $10,483,680 in tourism spending. This grew by $434,517 over 2018 spending.
Impressively, seven different youth sports appear in the top 10 events of 2019. Add to that events like the Washington State Special Olympics Winter Games and the Wenatchee Marathon and quite the variety is evident. Two of the top events were United States Figure Skating competitions. The USFS National Showcase and USFS Pacific Coast Sectionals are prime examples of events that Wenatchee can host with a state-of-the-art facility like Town Toyota Center. The Valley showed off its versatility by facilitating non traditional events like the Washington State Mountain Bike Championships and Apple Capital Swim Meet as well as huge tournaments like Triple Crown, Sterling Invite and Lights Out Volleyball. The top 10 events for 2019 in order of economic impact are:
WA State Special Olympics (March 1-3) $1,000,508
USFS National Showcase (July 31-August 4) $949,051
Apple Capital Swim Meet (May 31-June 2) $661,388
Triple Crown Baseball (April 6-7) $610,810
Sterling Invite Girls Softball (May 24-27) $417,633
Lights Out Volleyball Tournament (January 12-13) $331,116
State Mountain Bike Championships (June 2) $314,097
USFS Pacific Coast Sectionals (November 12-16) $303,691
Steve Talbot Basketball Invite (January 25-27) $291,938
Wenatchee Marathon (April 20) $238,858
Room night totals remained strong, at an estimated 30,554 for the year, 2,505 more than 2018.
It’s important to note that these numbers are estimates made from information gathered from event organizers and are consistent with industry standard around Washington State.
These figures include spending only by visitors, not locals, and for tournaments and events, not general recreation.
Wenatchee continues to host many awesome events that produce a great deal of economic impact. Fluctuation is also very common as we saw Triple Crown drop significantly in 2019 but expectations of improvement in 2020 are realistic. The Wenatchee Lacrosse Jamboree in March is a perennial top 10 event but it was cancelled due to substantial snow still covering the fields in 2019. Again, a very promising boost is expected in March barring abnormal snowfall. Adult softball tournaments and races at the Wenatchee Valley Super Oval will need to be strong in 2020 in order to keep pace with the solid performance of July and August of 2019.
The Wenatchee Valley Sports website has been remodeled in order to be more relevant, current and useful. Other tools used include Facebook, Wenatchee Valley Sports Blog, Instagram and of course building and maintaining strong relationships and partnerships.