EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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he 2004 Nanaimo Maple Sugar Festival was held from February 25" to 29% in

Nanaimo, BC. This five day Festival celebrates the historic and cultural heritage
of Francophones in Canada through a wide variety of activities including
traditional music, dance and the sampling of traditional food. Now in its fourth
year of existence, the Festival has grown from a modest event attracting 3,000 visits
to a five day multi-site event attracting 8,000 to 10,000 visits.

This study was commissioned at the request of the Association francophone de
Nanaimo, organizers of the Maple Sugar Festival. The objectives of this study are to
determine economic and non-economic impacts of the Festival on the Nanaimo
area economy and to provide a profile of Festival participants.

The survey of Festival participants and the application of economic impact
calculations to the data collected indicate the following:

@ The total economic impact of the Festival on the Nanaimo area is estimated
to be $457,596.

@ The total employment impact of the Festival is 3,213 person hours or
459 person days.

6 The Festival received 8,600 visits over five days from 4,971 individual
participants.

@ Visitors to Nanaimo represented more than half (51 %) of all individual
participants. Three quarters (75%) of these visitors are from Vancouver
Island.

@ A bit more than half of visitors (52%) stated they would be staying in
Nanaimo two to three nights.

@ Visitors reported average expenditures of $69 for the duration of the
Festival while Nanaimo residents reported average expenditures of $22.

@ Participants reported a high satisfaction rating with 80% stating they would
return next year.

@ Total participant spending was estimated to be $260,373 with visitor
spending representing 77% of this amount.

Nauaimo Maple Sugar Festival 2004.4 study of economic aud non-economic iinpacts on the Nematino area 3