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Wednesday, Mar 27, 2024

Growth in Special Events Provides Economic Boon

Last year the AT & T; Champions Classic Golf Tournament brought in more than $7 million for the City of Santa Clarita. The weeklong event arguably makes more of an economic impact on the city than any other. Collectively, though, the numerous events that draw tourists to Santa Clarita each year generate tens of millions of dollars, according to Jason Crawford, Santa Clarita’s marketing and economic development manager. Second to the golf tournament is the Amgen Tour of California, which brought in 50,000 spectators to the city in one day and netted a couple of million dollars for Santa Clarita, Crawford said. The exact economic impact the cycling tour makes on Santa Clarita isn’t certain because no studies have been done to measure it; unlike the golf tournament, which the city hired an independent agency to examine economically. An analysis of the financial impact this year’s golf tournament had on the city will be released in April, Crawford said. Over the years, Santa Clarita has steadily worked to bring more attractions and, consequently, more tourists to the city. With new events lined up and growing attendance at existing ones, Santa Clarita appears poised to become one of the region’s most formidable tourist draws. In the three years that Jessica Freude, Santa Clarita’s administrative analyst for Film & Tourism Economic Development, has worked for the city, she’s seen Santa Clarita become home to the Amgen Tour, the Italian Feast and three new hotels: the Embassy Suites, the La Quinta Inn and Suites and Courtyard by the Marriott. Also, in June at the Saugus Speedway, the Valley Fair will be held in Santa Clarita for the second time. When the fair moved from the San Fernando Valley to Santa Clarita last year, it attracted about 25,000 people, a jump in attendance of 40 percent, according to fair CEO Catherine Garcia. The fair uses the La Quinta Inn as its official hotel. It also creates local jobs, Garcia said. “We definitely hire and subcontract many aspects of the fair. We use interns from COC (College of the Canyons), utilize youth groups and senior centers. We have a lot of community groups performing in the area on stage. Actual vendors bring their business to the fair.” Garcia estimates that the fair had an estimated impact of $1.5 million to $2 million on Los Angeles County. She couldn’t break the numbers down specifically for the City of Santa Clarita, however. Since the fair is held there, though, Santa Clarita likely feels the bulk of that impact. Next year, the City is lined up to host a new event, the Western States Police and Fire Games which is expected to draw 6,000 participants. Overall, Crawford said, Santa Clarita attracts more than 3,000,000 visitors annually to the events it hosts as well as to Six Flags Magic Mountain. “We’re every unique in that we have these amazing parks and facilities in Santa Clarita, and we’ve been able to attract events that really speak to that,” Freude said. In Crawford’s seven years working for the city, “the number of events, the calendar of events, has increased significantly,” he said. “The Loose Goose Wine Festival, which is a great cultural event, draws 7,500 people. It’s only been here for three years.” <!– Golf: AT & T;’s Open draws large crowds. –> Golf: AT & T;’s Open draws large crowds. The same can be said for the Amgen Tour of California, Crawford said. Santa Clarita actively maneuvered to bring it to the city. “Then, once we got it, we’ve seen it grow into the second year from one day to two days,” Crawford said. “What we’re really trying to do is corner the event tourism market and bring people into Santa Clarita to enjoy an event and then remember Santa Clarita positively from the experience, and that can mean different things to different people. If you’re a cycling fan, you go to the Tour of California and think great things about Santa Clarita. If you’re a wine enthusiast, you’ll go to the Loose Goose Wine Festival and think, ‘Wow, I had a great time in Santa Clarita.'” CNN Money Magazine naming Santa Clarita the best place to live in California certainly didn’t hurt the city’s efforts to obtain more traffic. But Freude and Crawford also engage a specific line of offense to lure visitors into Santa Clarita. That includes promoting upcoming events while current events are being held, leaving cards featuring city events in regional airports and welcome centers, and taking part in both domestic and international travel shows. “We place ads and work with companies locally like LA Inc., which is the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau , in terms of visibility,” Freude said. “We put together a comprehensive guidebook of all the things you can do here in Santa Clarita as well as itineraries, suggested events and such. We actually have our annual calendar of events, so people can truly look and see when they’re coming, what events can they enjoy, in addition to things like Six Flags, which is a flagship for us. And then we work with the State’s Tourism Office, so we can be a part of that greater campaign as well to visit California.” Santa Clarita’s efforts to draw in visitors make a large impact on hotels and restaurants. The Santa Clarita Valley Marathon, Loose Goose Wine Festival, the Amgen Tour of California and the AT & T; Champions Classic Golf Tournament in particular mean big business for the Hyatt Valencia and Santa Clarita Conference Center, which has served as a host hotel for the events. “These groups in general bring a lot of people to town,” said Michael Kappel, Hyatt Valencia director of sales and marketing. Event organizers use the hotel’s meeting rooms and reserve blocks of rooms. To support their efforts, the Hyatt offers discounted packages, Kappel said. Of all the events held in the City, the golf tournament and Amgen Tour have the most impact on the hotel, Kappel said. That’s because the golf tourney takes place over a course of a week and the Amgen Tour has expanded to two days. “This year Amgen was a great event,” Kappel said. “Amgen was the biggest it had been so far.” Kappel did not provide specific figures about the economic impact on the hotel’s bottom line, but he said that its central location and the fact that it is a full-service hotel continues to make it attractive to event organizers. “The bike race starts outside of the hotel,” Kappel said. “The golf tournament is basically in our backyard at Valencia Country Club. The marathon ends right at Town Center.” Salt Creek Grill also benefits from city events, particularly from the golf tournament, according to the restaurant’s Assistant General Manager Shawn Garrett. It helps, he admitted, that one of Salt Creek’s primary investors is a key promoter for the golf tournament. Because of the connection, the restaurant has a series of dinners for those involved with the tournament each year. “On top of that, all of the AT & T; employers and golfers come in all week long,” Garrett said. Freude said that the tournament has yearlong benefits for Santa Clarita because organizers have established an office there. “They work with local vendors to set up sky boxes,” she said. “They hire people locally, work with (local) companies.” All in all, Freude believes that Santa Clarita’s appeal to event organizers lies in the city’s ability to attract attendees from many different regions. Crawford agreed but also cited additional factors. “I think it’s this combination of being in Los Angeles, which is one of the top tourism markets across the globe,” he said. “Being able to be in Los Angeles but also to be this beautiful, high-class suburb that really is looking at wanting not only to want to host events but be a partner of events.”

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