Greater Shepparton holds a strong community pride for sport, which has allowed the region to build a reputation as a leading sporting and events destination in regional Australia.
Besides inspiring young athletes and promoting a healthy lifestyle within residents, the economic benefits which sporting events bring are significant. These include injecting millions into retail, entertainment and hospitality businesses across Shepparton and Goulburn Valley.
Over the past six months alone, Greater Shepparton has hosted a number of new prestigious visitor events, such as a knockout fixture of the Australia Cup involving the GV Suns, Hockey Australia Country Championships, AFL V/Line Cup, AusCycling Masters and Junior Road National Championships, and the AusCycling BMX Racing National Championships, bringing approximately 7,000 athletes from all over the country to the region.
In addition to the athletes, a significant amount of additional support crew, family and friends helped activate local businesses, boosting the visitor economy.
These new events have been supported by many of the region's annual sporting favourites, including the return of the Shepparton Running Festival, one of Australia's largest soccer tournaments the Australian Football Skool Shepparton Cup, the 30 year celebrations of Spring Car Nationals and the Greater Shepparton Basketball Association Junior Basketball Championships which was hosted recently.
Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor, Councillor Shane Sali, highlighted the importance of the sports industry in the region and emphasised the economic benefits of investing in this sector.
"Sporting events are a great opportunity to activate local businesses and showcase our world class facilities such as the BMX track, our main soccer pitch which has hosted international football, and some of our sporting facilities in small towns such as Mooroopna, Tallygaroopna and Dookie," he said.
"Investing in infrastructure enables us to bring the very best events to the region, stimulating the economy throughout the whole year."
Cr Sali said these events were also the perfect occasion to generate tourism opportunities outside the regular holiday seasons, encouraging athletes, staff and spectators to explore the wonderful towns in the municipality.
"By Council bidding and securing many new state and national sporting events over the last six months, we have been able to inject $10 million into the region, supporting a variety of industry sectors across accommodation, visitor attractions, hospitality, entertainment and retail," he said.
"This has helped support jobs and growth and keep Greater Shepparton's economy strong."
