2019 Economic Impact Study Shows Benefits to New Mexico Visitor Industry as well as State and Local Tax Base

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO- New Mexico’s largest visitor event, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, today announced results of a third-party economic impact study.

The 2019 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta generated $186.82 million of total economic impact for businesses in the Albuquerque metropolitan area. The nine-day event  attracted an estimated 866,414 guest visits with an estimated 71 percent of its visitors traveling from outside of New Mexico. Of the estimated $186.82 million of total economic impact, direct spending by Balloon Fiesta guests at local businesses is estimated to be $109.89 million.  The Balloon Fiesta commissioned Forward Analytics to conduct the 2019 economic impact survey.

Highlights from the Economic Impact and Guest Research Study (Visit the Balloon Fiesta website to access the entire survey report) include:

• The 48th annual Balloon Fiesta had a total estimated economic impact on metro- Albuquerque’s business volume of $186.82 million. Balloon Fiesta guest spending directly increased the local business volume by $109.89 million and $76.93 million in indirect impact.
• The State of New Mexico receives an estimated $6.52 million in tax revenues from the direct economic activity attributable to 2019 Balloon Fiesta. The City of Albuquerque gained an estimated $4.09 million in tax revenues and Bernalillo County gained an estimated $1.44 million.
• The estimated $109.89 million in direct spending attributable to Balloon Fiesta produced an additional $58.99 million in New Mexico’s employment wages supporting 1,482 FTE at an annual salary of $39,811.
• Guests spent an average of $31 per person with Balloon Fiesta concessionaires, many of which are regional businesses. Most of this spending was on food/drinks and merchandise and the estimated average spending excludes parking and admission charges.
• The 2019 event saw a 70% increase in first-time visitors to Balloon Fiesta (52.4% in 2017). With 14 ballooning sessions available to guests, the majority (70.6%) attended two or more sessions and 15.3% attended five or more.
• Balloon Fiesta promotes Albuquerque and New Mexico’s tourism industry as well as increases exposure of city and state as a visitor destination. In 2019, more than 3.4 billion impressions were generated on digital and traditional media.

The survey was conducted by Forward Analytics, Inc. to measure the economic impact of the nine-day ballooning event. Forward Analytics fielded on-site, intercept interviews with 1,368 adult attendees (ages 18+) during 14 sessions of the 2019 Balloon Fiesta. A small incentive (official Balloon Fiesta key chain) was provided to survey respondents. The sample size represents a statistical significance of +/-3% margin at the 95% confidence interval. This means the statistics are within 3 percentage points of the general population 95% of the time. Generally, a +/-5% margin of error at a 95% confidence level is considered significant for making reliable business and marketing decisions.

About the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is an annual festival of hot air balloons that takes place every October in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.  It is the largest gathering of balloons and balloonists in the world. For details on events, schedule, entertainment and photographs visit our website www.balloonfiesta.com.