DMAI’s new Event Impact Calculator launched today with 67 subscribing DMOs, outpacing projections for the year. Developed by Tourism Economics (an Oxford Economics company) specifically for DMAI, the Calculator provides DMOs with a dynamic and credible industry standard to quantify an event’s full economic value in terms of direct expenditures, taxes, employment, wages and total return on investment.

“We have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this Calculator,” said Barbara Kirklighter, Senior Director, Research & Revenue Strategy for LA INC. The Los Angeles CVB. “With the aid of this terrific tool, we are now able to report key metrics to our stakeholders such as visitor spend on lodging, transportation, retail, recreation and food & beverage as well as the number of jobs specifically generated from the meetings and convention business we help bring to our city.”

“DMOs everywhere are trying to prove themselves relative. Having the ability to show the economic impact of our efforts is imperative,” commented Dennis Johnston, CDME, Vice President of Sales at Lexington CVB. “When you can back those numbers up with the authority of Oxford Economics, it gives us instant credibility. Every DMO I know has been waiting for this product.”

New Data Source Reinforces Accuracy
As the Calculator makes its live debut, DMAI announced the addition of convention center data from SMG as a new ninth data source.

"By including actual contract data in the model, the calculations of event impacts are incredibly robust,” noted Adam Sacks, Founder and Managing Director of Tourism Economics, Inc. “The combination of SMG's primary data with multiple survey, industry and government data sources provides a sustainable and credible foundation for impact analysis at the local level."

In addition to the SMG data, the Event Impact Calculator incorporates the eight complementary data sources:

• Oxford Economics’ 2010 survey of meeting planners;
• Longwoods International’s ongoing survey of U.S. household travel behavior in 100 cities;
• Convention Industry Council’s study on the Economic Significance of the Meetings Industry;
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics city-specific data on costs by sector (i.e. restaurant, retail, lodging, etc.);
• City-specific sales, wage and employment multipliers;
• City-specific tax rates;
• DMAI’s empowerMINT historical meetings database;
• Input from the end user.

“By providing real world financial data from a cross section of our convention centers, we hope to provide valuable context in DMAI's quest to provide realistic and complete information used to calculate the value of all event types,” commented Gregg Caren, Senior Vice President Strategic Business Development of SMG. “

Want to learn more about the Event Impact Calculator? Looking to sit in on a demo? Visit the Event Impact Calculator webpage.