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(Sports) Australian Open tennis tournament continues to be a growing economic winner for Melbourne

Xinhua, June 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Australian Open tennis tournament is worth almost 200 million U.S dollars to Victoria's economy, and is expected to grow in value, a report released on Wednesday has predicted.

Held over two weeks in the summer month of January, the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific region earned 192 million U.S dollars and created 1400 local jobs in 2014.

The amount is a large increase on the corresponding figure from 2008, when the state earned just over 127 million U.S dollars for hosting the tournament.

In 2015, an attendance record was set, with more than 703,000 spectators rolling through the gates at Melbourne Park and, encouragingly for Victoria, only half of all attendees were Melburnians, with 49 percent making their way to Victoria's capital from elsewhere.

The report, by Deloitte Access Economics, detailed that 9 percent of ticket holders were from regional Victoria, while 29 percent of all visitors were from interstate and 11 percent traveled from overseas to watch the tournament.

The report found that interstate and overseas visitors spent millions of dollars on hotels, in bars and restaurants, and on transportation around the city, and also discovered that visitors attended multiple sessions, averaging 3.7 sessions per visitor.

Twenty-two percent of all international spectators came from neighboring New Zealand, with England, the United States and China not far behind.

State Sports Minister John Eren said the report highlighted Melbourne's prowess as a leader in attracting world-class sporting events.

"The figures say it all. There's no place like Melbourne for events and there is no tournament like the Australian Open," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Australian Open draws visitors from all over the world. It means our businesses are busy and our economy strong, and that means jobs, jobs and more jobs."

Melbourne Park is in the process of undergoing upgrades, specifically to stadiums such as Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena, and Eren said the long term investment in the precinct would ensure that Melbourne hosts the Asia Pacific Grand Slam for some time.

"We're investing in our sporting precinct to ensure Victoria remains the home of the Australian Open and on the travel list of sports fans across the globe," he said.

The report said the tennis tournament was one of the biggest sporting events in the world, and is only expected to grow as up- and-coming players from Australia and neighboring Asian countries China and Japan such as now retired Li Na and Kei Nishikori respectively. Endi