The regions’ 122 golf courses generate an estimated $745.6 million in golf-related spending and directly employ over 8,000 workers
The Hi-Lo Desert Golf Course Superintendents Association, with financial support from the California Alliance for Golf, California Golf Course Owners Association, Golden State Chapter of CMAA, Greater Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau, Southern California Golf Association and the Southern California Section of the PGA, has commissioned and released the first Coachella Valley specific golf economic impact report.
The study, formally titled “Economic Impact of the Coachella Valley Golf Industry,” was conducted by Tourism Economics, an Oxfords Economics Company with extensive experience in performing regional economic analyses. The firm utilized golf-stays by locals and visitors at facilities within the region and their associated expenditures to construct a model of the industry’s impact on the regional economy. Home to 122 facilities, the Coachella Valley represents roughly 13.9 percent of California’s golf industry.
The study confirms what many suspected; the industry is central to the economic viability of the greater Palm Desert region. Golf generates nearly $1.1 billion in overall economic activity, thousands of jobs and roughly $83.3 million in state and local taxes. The scope and size is remarkable for a region home to so few persons.
The golf industry’s direct employment amounts to 7.3% of total employment in the Coachella Valley, or about half the share of leisure and hospitality (15.0%) and nearly double that of financial activities (4.0%). Total business sales generated directly by golf account for 11.4% of all taxable sales in the Coachella Valley, while direct golf-related retail sales represent 3.0% of taxable retail sales in the region. Further, state and local tax revenues generated by golf in the Coachella Valley make up about 9.7% of the total state and local tax impact of travel in California’s Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, as reported by Dean Runyan Associates.
“The results of the study substantiate golf’s contributions to the economic vitality of the Coachella Valley,” said Anthony Antonik, economist with Tourism Economics. “For every dollar spent on-site at a golf facility, another $0.55 is spent in other parts of the local economy by golf-related visitors. Golf has a significant impact on the financial well-being of the area.”
The report can be accessed by clicking the following link: TE Oxford – EconomicImpactoftheCoachellaValleyGolfIndustry Revised 7 27 (Final)