Report: Missoula Marathon filled hotel rooms, had economic impact of $5.26 million

Anyone who tried to get a table at a downtown restaurant that weekend knows how busy the town felt, much like a big Griz gameday or a stadium concert night.

Destination Missoula also commissioned a report that found that the marathon generated $5.26 million worth of economic impact for the community.

The organization says their economic impact calculator measures the direct impact of out-of-town visitor spending on local businesses, employment, income and tax revenue. Their method is customized specifically for Missoula using nine data sources.

"This year's economic impact reflects much more than a successful race weekend, it demonstrates that Missoula has firmly established itself as one of the country's premier running destinations," said Trisha Drobeck, executive director of Run Wild Missoula. "People travel from around the world to experience our incredible community, beautiful course and unmatched volunteer spirit. Every year we continue to build Missoula's reputation not only as a bucket-list marathon destination, but also as a place people want to visit, explore, and return to throughout the summer. It's a win for our runners, our local businesses, and our entire community."

Thousands of people came for the race, but about 45% of racers actually needed accommodations in the Missoula area.

"The Missoula Marathon has become one of the most significant tourism drivers in our community and continues to deliver tremendous value to our local economy," said Heidi Starrett, director of sales for Destination Missoula. "Race weekend consistently represents one of the largest tourism weekends of the year for Missoula. The event fills hotel rooms, drives visitor spending throughout the community, and showcases everything that makes Missoula such an exceptional destination. It's an outstanding example of how sports tourism benefits businesses across our entire region."

Destination Missoula used an economic impact calculator developed by a company called Tourism Economics. Apparently, the economic impact last year was $4.2 million. The numbers are not inflation-adjusted.

The average daily hotel rate in Missoula over the course of four days, from Thursday to Sunday, was $239 a night.

Drobeck said that beyond visitor spending, the event also invests heavily in the local economy through purchases from area businesses and partnerships with local organizations. Run Wild Missoula contracts with local venues, public safety agencies, medical providers, transportation companies, merchandise suppliers, production vendors and countless other businesses to produce the event each year, she noted.