People move to a certain city / village for various reasons. Community festivals and big events brought to the city are a boom to the area and helps improve the quality of life. It bothers me when someone says there is nothing to do in this city, or all this traffic can leave my sleepy town now, or that new PGA golf course doesn’t benefit me. I hear things like that all the time and being a Destination (Tourism) Marketer, it is disheartening.
The PGA Championship was in my hometown area of Sheboygan County, at Whistling Straits in Kohler, WI. An event like this is huge for any area, as it brought in over 200,000 people to the area and generated over $100 million in local economic impact. Yet, the naysayers still complained about all of the traffic, doesn’t benefit them, and another other excuse as to why this was not a good thing. Well guess what, tourism does benefit them (you and I), as it saves each family over $1,000 a year in taxes. Yes, over $1,000 dollars a year in taxes! I don’t know about you, but I don’t like paying taxes, so to have people visiting my area, spending money and generating tax revenue is great!
I do not know all of the figures for the PGA Championship that was held at Whistling Straits this week, so I will go off of what I heard and that is 200,000 attendees and $100 million in economic impact. Those 200,000 people eat at local restaurants, buy gas at local gas stations, stay at local hotels, etc. Sheboygan County does not have as many hotel rooms as a mid-sized destination, so attendees where staying about an hour away, so it had an impact around the state as well. Even the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had an article this weekend on how golf courses across the state were seeing an increase in golfers due to the excitement of the PGA Championship being in the area.
Back to the 200,000 attendees dining at restaurants, staying at hotels and getting gas in the area. When they ate at area restaurants or stayed in area hotels, there is a line that is added to the bill for sales tax. That sales tax goes back to the community, which in return the community uses for road improvements, school improvements and other community investments such as festivals, etc that it’s residents and other visitors to the area will enjoy. These are tax dollars that are coming into the community from people who do not live in the community and are only there for this event. With so many people in the area and eating at our restaurants, meant that young Anthony got more hours at the restaurant and put more money in his pocket or the mom that is bartending to make extra money for her family, she got a boost in tips this week/weekend because of this 1 event. The local store may have had more sales, which will allow the owner to hire that other person or two that they have been hoping to do for sometime. Plus, all of the local contractors that were hired to build the temporary buildings and grandstands had to buy their materials (wood, nails, etc) somewhere, which was more than likely, Menards or Home Depot. Before this week, the community did not have this extra tax money and if the PGA Championship was not at Whistling Straits, they would not have that extra money, and they then would have to raise taxes to offset a deficit or complete a project. Not to mention, the exposure on national television that the area received. That alone will go along way, as some one watching it may say, hey I want to try and play the same course the pros did or hey Rory McIlroy ate that restaurant, let’s head to Sheboygan for the weekend and experience what they did. The affects of the PGA Championship would continue past this weekend and that’s what tourism is all about.
With every event, comes it’s fair share of complaints, but some of the complaints that I saw coming out of my hometown, was astonishing. “It takes me twice as long to run errands around town because of the PGA traffic.” “I am done with the PGA traffic and their rudeness, they can leave my sleepy town.” These complaints are just a small price to pay for a big event like the PGA Championship coming to the area. I don’t know for a fact, but I am guessing there was only a few minor incidents of rudeness or fans getting rowdy. The person could have also been having a bad day and complained on Social Media because it is a platform for them to do so. These are the complaints that happen with any event. This is a good problem for a community to have for 1 week of the year and definitely a small price to pay for a city receiving millions of dollars off of 1 event.
Tourism is a right of passage. We all remember piling in the car with mom, dad and our siblings to go on a summer road trip across the country. Something we all dream about doing with our own kids. Cities thrive off of bring out of town visitors to their area to spend their disposable income. When you have a top golf course and can bring in a world-class event such as the PGA Championship, you do it, the benefits that the community will receive will go a long way in shaping the community and improving the quality of life for its residents. Tourism means jobs and brings revenue to your community, it’s a win-win all around. Destination Kohler, Sheboygan and Sheboygan County will continue to reap the benefits from this once in a lifetime event, which was amazing to witness this world-class event happen in my hometown.
