record crowds<\/a> attending the event pushed its gross economic stimulus more than $156.5m more than it has ever been. <\/p>\nIn a huge boost to tourism, this year\u2019s Grand Slam saw visitors book 705,236 bed nights in Melbourne hotels \u2013 the most ever and almost 60 per cent more than last year and created 2547 full time equivalent jobs.<\/p>\n
Australian Open boss Craig Tiley said it had become: \u201cnot just a world-class sporting event, but a major economic driver for Victoria, bringing hundreds of thousands of fans from across Australia and billions around the world.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The report also revealed more than 700 \u201cinfluencers\u2019\u2019 attended the Open, up 160 per cent year on year, creating 1.1 bill social media posts.<\/p>\n
There was an increase in younger fans and families attending the AO, including a surge in AO Opening Week. <\/p>\n
The largest percentage of adult ticket holders \u2013 38.1 per cent \u2013 was aged between 18 and 34.<\/p>\n
It was an 18.8 per cent increase in fans in that age demographic than turned out to the 2024 AO.<\/p>\n
Mr Tiley, who will next month stand down as Tennis Australia chief executive and AO tournament director to take up a similar role in the US, said the event had \u201ca lasting impact\u201d on Victoria.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Australian Open is more than a tennis tournament; it\u2019s part of Melbourne\u2019s identity,\u2019\u2019 he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo have helped build an event that drives tourism, supports hospitality and showcases this city to the world is a legacy I\u2019m incredibly grateful to have been part of.\u201d <\/p>\n
Separate data obtained by the Herald Sun reveals 60 per cent of fans at Melbourne Park for Opening Week were attending the AO for the first time.<\/p>\n
More than 57 per cent of AO attendees were women and 22.9 per cent attended as families.<\/p>\n
The nationalities of the top three international fans attending the AO this year were US (42.6 per cent), NZ (13\/7 per cent) and the UK (11.6 per cent).<\/p>\n
More than 62 per cent of AO attendees were from Melbourne, 18.6 per cent from interstate, 10.9 per cent from intrastate and 7.9 per cent from overseas. <\/p>\n
The AO has generated more than $3.9 bill for Victoria over the past 10 years. <\/p>\n
peter.rolfe@news.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year\u2019s Australian Open served up a record $722.32m boost to the Melbourne economy, with a younger demographic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-757473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}