Shrimp & Petroleum Festival impact: $8.5 million

The 2014 Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival drew 140,000 visitors, each of whom spent an average of $249 during their stay, generating direct and indirect spending totaling $8.5 million, according to a new study.
The Hospitality Research Center at the University of New Orleans performed the study, the first of its kind for the festival since 1999. The festival’s board and officers said UNO used multipliers provided by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis to measure the secondary effects of spending. The study was subject to a sampling error of 5 percent.
The study found:
—Just over half the 140,000 festival-goers were St. Mary residents. Half the visitors from out of town spent an average of two or three nights in St. Mary.
—The average hotel room rate for visitors was $88. “The majority of out-of-town visitors responded that the festival was their primary reason for coming to St. Mary Parish,” festival organizers said in a press release.
—The 2014 festival generated an impact of $8.5 million, including $7.1 million in direct spending and $1.4 in secondary spending. The top spending categories were food, with an average of $131 per person, and shopping, with an average of $74.
—Festival spending created nearly 100 full-time and part-time jobs, generating $2.3 million in additional earnings for St. Mary people.
—The study said the festival was expected to generate a total of $800,000 in tax revenue, including $500,000 in state taxes and $300,000 for the local governments in St. Mary.
—Ninety-four percent of survey respondents said they’re likely or very likely to return for the 2015 festival.
This year’s festival will be Sept. 4-7.