The returning LPGA tournament hosted by Kingsmill Resort in early September is expected to generate over $6 million in revenues to the Historic Triangle as thousands of avid golf fans head into town for the event.
The LPGA announced the return of the tournament in January. The $1.3 million Kingsmill Championship will be played September 3-9. In 2013, it will return to its traditional early-May date. The event will bring in millions of dollars to the Historic Triangle, according to Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance Vice President for Tourism Bob Harris, who said the LPGA is expecting the event’s economic impact on the area will be about $6.3 million.
The event will be a boon for the tourism industry, Harris said. “It will be great to have this along with all of the events we have for Arts Month. It will help make up for dollars we may have lost in July and August as far as visitors.”
Though the last local LPGA tournament occurred in 2009, Harris said Kingsmill uses 2008 numbers as the benchmark to compare to 2010 to see what impact the loss of the event had on the local tourism industry. Kingsmill head Robin Carson said 2009 numbers are not used “because the tournament was not the same the last year of Anheuser-Busch ownership.”
In May 2008, the Triangle sold about 160,000 room nights. In 2010, it sold 130,000. In Williamsburg alone, there was a $2 million difference in room revenues between 2008 and 2010, according to Harris.
James City County Administrator Robert Middaugh agreed that “it is a very positive event in terms of the entire region. We expect room nights, sales taxes and other taxes to be up.”
He added that, since the county is a large sponsor for the event, he expects the benefits to the county will go beyond just instant revenue increases. “We hope to get a lot of exposure through this, and get the county on the map… [the event] will run on the Golf Channel for 11 hours, and it will reach 326 million households across the world.”
The county logo will be appearing on the scoreboard and other prominent places during the event, Middaugh said, and the county hopes to use the exposure as an economic development tool.
Aside from the financial benefits, Middaugh noted that the tournament used to be a Busch-centered event but “now, it will be much more of a community event than it ever has been before,” with businesses and community members playing a larger role.
This is a message that Carson shared when the tournament’s return was announced earlier this year, as Kingsmill is now under the ownership of Xanterra Parks & Resorts. She told the county’s Board of Supervisors in March that while Xanterra had agreed to be the title sponsor for the event for two years, Kingsmill is actively looking for another title sponsor to keep the event over the long term.
Community participation will likely help attract a new title sponsor, she told the Board.
The return of the LPGA championship “is a huge positive for the destination,” Harris said. “We look forward to it recurring in May next year; it will add a lot to spring in what I hope will be a really strong summer for us.
“It adds a lot to the golf product here, which will help us as we are continuing to rebuild the brand of Williamsburg as a premier golf destination.”
