everything was up at least 12%,” reports Lori Dowd, chief administrative and financial officer.The 11-day October event generated approximately $1.5 million in state and local tax revenue for Houston County. A 2022 economic impact study conducted by the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government quantified the facility’s broader influence. The fairgrounds’ activities produced $133 million in goods and services for Georgia’s economy, with Houston County alone capturing over $36 million of that total. “Our economic benefit, we estimate to be around $50 million to the entire state,” Dowd says.“So pretty significant as far as number of visitors that attend and the revenue that’s generated back to the fairgrounds to support our mission as well as back to the state.” The facility’s economic contribution goes even further. Shimp emphasizes the importance of attracting out-of-state participants: “Currently with the NBHA show, their riders come from California, Canada, Central America, and other parts of the world, representing new dollars that are brought into Georgia.”The 2022 study estimated out-of-state visitor spending exceeded $56 million annually.“As soon as that horse trailer or that cattle trailer, that motor home, the dog show van, as soon as it crosses the state line of Georgia, that calculator starts rolling for their spending,” Shimp explains. The fairgrounds ranks fourth in Georgia for generating domestic overnight tourism visits, contributing to the state’s position as fifth nationally in this category. INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND WORKFORCE STRATEGY The fairgrounds employs 75 full-time staff year-round with state benefits, expanding to over 200 workers during peak events like the October fair. “We have full-time staff year-round.And we of course increase 101 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 13, ISSUE 01 GEORGIA NATIONAL FAIRGROUNDS AND AGRICENTER
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