Hyundai World Archery Championships 2017 delivers benefits to Mexico City

The Hyundai World Archery Championships 2017 (WAC 2017) and the World Archery Congress, which were held in October 2017, delivered a tourism impact of $1.2 million for Mexico City, according to Sportcal’s latest Global Sports Impact (GSI) Event Study.

The analysis, conducted as part of Sportcal’s GSI Event Studies Programme, looks at a range of impact indicators, examining the economic, tourism, media, sponsorship, sporting and social benefits of hosting the event, and also includes interviews with key stakeholders of the event.

The WAC 2017 marked the first time that World Archery’s pinnacle event had taken place in Mexico and the Spanish-speaking Americas, opening up the sport to a developing archery market and reiterating the global nature of the sport. It also meant that Archery is one of the few Olympic sports to have had its world championships hosted in Mexico. The WAC 2017 also represented part of a wide-ranging strategy to host sporting events by Mexico City in order to develop into a global sports city, attracting sport tourism and encouraging active participation by its citizens.

At the WAC 2017, there were 373 athletes from 58 nations who competed in ten medal events, and they were accompanied by 187 team officials. Europe was the best represented continent present with athletes from 31 nations present. The event was supported by 166 volunteers, all from Mexico.

There were over 84 hours of television coverage shown by 24 broadcasters across 105 nations. Domestic coverage in Mexico alone accounted for over 16 hours, including live coverage of the two-day finals. The total cumulative audience for the event was measured to be 20.39 million, of which 30% came from China and 27% from Korea. Across its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, World Archery obtained almost 3,000 new followers over the duration of the competition.

The event was supported by 12 institutional partners and sponsors, including the Government of Mexico City and title sponsor Hyundai. Sponsorship activation by the Hyundai brand included the setting up Hyundai Archery Clinics around the field of play to encourage participation and awareness of archery in Mexico – these were attended by 5,000 people, with almost half registering themselves to further their involvement in the sport. .Further engagement with the city from the archery community came in the form of a donation of $57,000 to aid relief efforts following the recent earthquake there.

The two-day World Archery Congress, which preceded the WAC 2017, was attended by 154 people, including 112 delegates from Member Associations. Delegates were also invited to attend workshop sessions to better understand World Archery’s plans for the sport and to better govern their respective national federations.

Commenting on the study, Tom Dielen, Secretary General of World Archery, said: “World Archery is very proud to have hosted a successful and positive World Archery Championships in Mexico City, while this Olympic City was recovering from the damage and loss inflicted by the tragic earthquake in the autumn of 2017.

“Often the value of sport goes beyond figures. The feedback from spectators attending the championships highlighted the positive impact the event had on the city’s inhabitants, and we are confident that this will translate into a lasting legacy for archery.”

Mike Laflin, CEO of Sportcal, added: “As Tom Dielen mentions, this event became more than just the World Archery Championships. It became a symbol of how the city and the people of Mexico could continue in the face of extreme trauma. While the earthquake presented many challenges to World Archery and the hosts in the planning of this event, in the end, by working closely together, the 49th edition of the World Archery Championships was a great success.

“Over 97% of attendees said they had a positive experience at the end, and 98% of visitors said that they had enjoyed Mexico. The event had strong media coverage and good social media engagement. Above all, the World Championships provided a positive boost for the city, with World Archery donating over $US57,000 to support the relief effort. In addition to these statistics, this Sportcal GSI Event Study has shown that sport is much more powerful than economic numbers or viewing figures; it is about sport’s ability to bring people together and to help them cope with adversity.”

To purchase the GSI Event Study on the Hyundai World Archery Championships 2017, please click here.

For further information on the study, the Hyundai World Archery Championships 2017, and the GSI Event Studies Programme, contact gsi@sportcal.com

To read the key findings from the study, please click here.