PricewaterhouseCoopers Predicts Slight Rebound in South Florida Hospitality and Tourism Spending Related to Super Bowl XLIV

MIAMI, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimates that, following a greater than 20 percent drop in spending surrounding last year's game, Super Bowl XLIV will generate approximately $153 million in direct spending throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties by the NFL, businesses, visitors, and the media on lodging, transportation, food and beverage, entertainment, business services, and other hospitality and tourism activities.  This represents a three percent increase over last year and is based on a proprietary analysis which considers characteristics unique to this year's event, that influence the level of direct spending such as: the participating teams, host community attributes, ancillary activities, and economic conditions.

While this year's event is estimated to generate a level of spending slightly higher than last year's in Tampa, it is 27 percent lower than when the game was played in South Florida three years ago.

"Spending will once again be constrained by prevailing economic conditions; however, compared to last year, South Florida will benefit from the return of several Super Bowl-related hospitality events, the higher hotel room rates in South Florida versus Tampa, and a larger stadium capacity," said Robert Canton, director, PricewaterhouseCoopers, sports and tourism sector.

PricewaterhouseCoopers research suggests that while a major sporting event such as the Super Bowl may displace typical seasonal travel to a destination while the event is taking place, there is still a significant incremental benefit.  "It would be inappropriate to categorize all game-related visitors as permanently displacing those tourists that would have been there anyway," said Canton.  "Since visitors have ample advance notice of the event and there is available capacity in the market before and after the game, the scheduling and re-scheduling of travel around the Super Bowl can and does take place."

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SOURCE PricewaterhouseCoopers