Posted: February 13, 2006

Athletics: 2005 Honolulu Marathon Generated Over $100 Million in Economic Impact

A study by Hawaii Pacific University found that the 2005 Honolulu Marathon and its Race Day Walk generated $100,070,000 in visitor spending and another $4.4 million in state taxes.

The study, supervised by Jerry Agrusa, Ph.D., and Wendy Agrusa, M.S., professors in the HPU Travel Industry Management program, is based on interviews with 1,385 visiting marathoners and walkers from December 7-10, 2005. The marathon was held on Sunday, December 11.

Of the interviews conducted, 971 were done in Japanese and 424 in English.

Among the most significant findings in the study:
* Most of the entries were Japanese who spent nearly $100 more per day than other entries.
* More than 86 percent of entries stayed in hotels and 9.4 percent stayed in condos or timeshares.

The 2005 Honolulu Marathon drew 28,048 entries and nearly 78.6 percent were from out-of-state. An additional 5,444 people entered the Race Day Walk, held concurrently with the marathon, and 80 percent of them were from Japan. The 26,426 out-of-state entries in the marathon and the walk represented a 4.5 percent increase in visitor participation over 2004.

Because out-of-state entries must fly to participate in the Honolulu Marathon they tend to stay in the city longer and spend more, thus increasing the event's economic impact.

The 2005 Honolulu Marathon was America's third largest marathon behind the ING New York City and LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathons.

Source: Pat Bigold

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services Director
385 Oak View Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93111

(805) 696-6232, fax (805) 967-5958
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.runningusa.org.

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