This past May, I had a post regarding the economic impact the Lion King could bring to Grand Chute. Many theater-goers were from out of town, and stayed in Grand Chute hotels, and ate in our restaurants. Lynn Peters, Executive Director of the Fox Cities Conventioin and Visitor's Bereau, recently shared some statistcal facts regarding the Lion King run. According to Ms. Peters:
- Lion King was sold out.
- The show attracted 30,000 new visitors, who had never before purchased tickets at the Fox Cities PAC.
- Advertising of Lion King made 5,125,590 media impressions. In other words, Lion King ads were seen that many times. (This was a joint venture between the PAC and the CVB.)
- Our PR efforts (also joint) netted 45 television news stories, 4 radio interviews and 34 feature stories in magazines or newspapers across the state. Lion King truly put the Fox Cities in the public eye throughout Wisconsin.
- Hotel occupancy in May (when the majority of the shows were held) was higher than any of the last 6 years. In fact, it was up 10% over 2006.
- Room tax revenue for the second quarter (Apr-June) was up 7.15% over last year.
