JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Research funded by Visit Jacksonville and conducted by a research team from the University of North Florida has concluded that visitors from outside the Jacksonville community accounted for a $1.8 million economic impact during One Spark, the world's crowdfunding festival held in April.
"While One Spark is primarily attended by Jacksonville residents, the research clearly illustrates the powerful economic impact of tourism during events here," said Visit Jacksonville President and CEO Paul Astleford. "We plan to integrate the research findings into our marketing and communications plans for One Spark in 2015 to attract more visitors from outside the Jacksonville area."
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DOCUMENT: UNF's One Spark survey report
UNF's public opinion research laboratory, led by faculty director Michael Binder, had a team of 19 that surveyed nearly 1,100 One Spark attendees and asked them a series of questions to develop a demographic profile of the event visitors. The research identified that 51,000 visitors came from outside of the Jacksonville area to attend the event.
The highlights from the visitor research include the following:
- Estimated event-related visitor hotel nights in the region: 1,600
- Average length of the visitor's hotel stay: 2.8 days
- Average number of visitors per room: 1.8 visitors
- Estimated number of visitors staying in hotel lodgings: 1,010
- Estimated direct and indirect economic impact of visitors: $1,816,000
Because of their positive experience during One Spark, 85 percent of those surveyed said they would be inclined to visit downtown Jacksonville again.
Nearly 75 percent of the attendees had a college or graduate degree, and 85 percent planned to vote for a One Spark Creator during the event. Binder said the research has a margin of error of 2.9 percent.
One Spark estimated that about 260,000 attended the second-annual, five-day event in April, where 610 creator projects competed for their piece of $310,000 in crowdfunds and awards, $3.25 million in potential private capital investment, and unlimited private individual contributions from attendees.
For more information about the festival, visit www.beonespark.com.