By Kristen Sekella
Ohio University Family Weekends leave a lasting economic impact on the Athens community.
The Athens County Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACCVB) relies on an annual survey by Ohio's division of Travel and Tourism to estimate average expenditures of visitors to the campus and community. According to Sally Dunker, the executive director of the ACCVB, it is projected that "overnight visitors spend $108 per day, per person, while those who come for just the day, on average, spend $72 a day, per person."
Most of the campus visitors for Ohio University family weekends are overnight guests, she added.
"As a conservative estimate, if 3,000 people visit town, that translates to about $280,000 for the weekend," she said. Based on this estimate, Ohio University's five annual family weekends would generate approximately $1.4 million for the community.
However, Patti McSteen, assistant dean of students, estimated that attendance actually averages between 3,000 and 4,000 people for each family weekend.
Douglas Adie, professor of economics who specializes in monetary and financial markets, said, "Actually, $2.2 million is probably closer. The local merchants live off of these special weekends, because parents are looser with purse strings than are students.
"The way to look at it," he said, "is as if Athens is trading with the rest of the world. Basically, that's expenditures for goods and services. The weekends help the local economy, very much like exports for the community. These are our exports; the goods and services we sell and send to the rest of the economy."
According to Larry Payne, president of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, "there is a definite economic impact on retailers during these weekends." For Moms and Parents weekends especially, downtown sees marked increases in traffic as visitors take their students to stock up on groceries and specialty items, he said.
Payne also indicated that dining out is popular during family weekends and business really picks up for Athens area restaurants.
"During Ohio University special weekends, business easily triples," according to Pat Bernards, the owner of Tomatillo's Restaurant and a member of the Athens County Independent Restaurant Association. For example, on Saturday of Dads Weekend 2003 from 1 to 9 p.m., her restaurant served 368 meals, compared to the typical Saturday, when Tomatillo's prepares an average of 130 dishes.
"The only time you usually do exceptionally well is when Ohio University has a special weekend," Bernards commented.
Dunker also added that in addition to dining establishments, "lodging facilities really prosper from Ohio University family weekends." For Dads Weekend 2003, for example, each of the 11 hotels in Athens County, totaling roughly 500 rooms, were sold out. Other popular events, including the upcoming Moms Weekend and commencement were sold out by mid-January.
Moms Weekend is May 2-4.
Kristen Sekella is a student employee in University Communications and Marketing.
