Cricket World Cup generated US$250m for Australian tourism

The recent ICC Cricket World Cup brought 100,000 international visitors to Australia and generated almost US$250 million in receipts, a new report has revealed.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report confirms the value of large-scale events to the Australian economy as a driver of visitor demand and expenditure.

Key findings from the report include a total match attendance of 770,000 spectators, 370,000 visitors (including 100,000 from overseas), AU$325m (US$249m) in international visitor spending, and 1.5m bed nights, including 815,000 for international visitors.

John O’Sullivan, managing director of Tourism Australia, welcomed the findings.

“Beyond increased visitor numbers and tourism spending, these high profile events also help to showcase our country to huge television audiences in some of our most important international markets,” he said.

“By the time 2015 draws to a close, Australia will have hosted the AFC Asia Cup 2015, the ICC Cricket World Cup and the Netball World Championships – and we’ve still got the Rugby League World Cup in 2017 and Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast to come, in 2018.

“These are all events which typically attract international visitors who stay longer, travel further and spend more. That’s a real sweet spot for any national tourism organisation and why we’re so focused upon developing a targeted event strategy to maximise the tourism potential and economic return of Australia’s year round calendar of top quality events,” O’Sullivan added.

The publication of the PwC report comes just days after the launch of the Australian government’s ‘sports diplomacy’ strategy. This aims to use sport to strengthen relationships between Australia and the rest of the world.

Recently released tourism data showed that Australia experienced 46% spike in visitor arrivals from India during the month of March, coinciding with the country’s appearance in the semi-final of Cricket World Cup.