Second largest amount after Toronto extravaganza.
By Tathagata Mitra
BANGALORE: The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards which took place on April 26, in Tampa, Florida, generated a lot of moolah for the city. The organizers of IIFA said on Wednesday that the awards ceremony has generated more than $26 million with the nearly 24,000 visitors flocking the three-day song and dance extravaganza.
The IIFA awards are the biggest awards for Hindi cinema after the Filmfare awards. While the Filmfare awards are traditionally always held in Mumbai, the IIFA moves across the globe, changing its venue every year. The IIFA has so far been organized in 10 countries, including Malaysia, South Africa, Canada and most recently in the US.
This $26 million includes the direct spending by the visitors, induced spending (how locals re-spent the visitors’ dollars and indirect spending (what hotels, restaurants, shops and attractions spent to prepare for IIFA), according to the Tampa Bay Times. Studies have showed that there was a 62% hike in revenue of the Tampa hotels from April 23-26 of the ceremony as compared to the same day the previous year.
The study was undertaken with the help of Bonn Marketing Research Group of Tallahassee, with the figures of hotel occupancy from Smith travel research. Bonn interviewed 400 people who came to the ceremony about where they were staying, how much they were spending etc. The survey data and the data given by Smith was together used to produce the overall number of $26 million.
Two thirds or 67% of the people attending the ceremony were from outside Florida. While 56% were from other parts of the USA, 11% were international guests, said the Times report.
“Every day of the weekend was an astounding success,” IIFA director Andre Timmins said in a statement. “Beyond the positive short-term impact of the weekend, we look forward to building a great legacy with the city, developing business, trade and film production relations between India and Tampa Bay.”
The IIFA awards saw John Travolta dancing side by side with Hrithik Roshan, a sight as rare as any when you think of Hollywood and Bollywood together. Travolta received an award for “Most Popular All-Time International Star in India.” Kevin Spacey was also present at the awards. The best film was awarded to Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.
The revenue generated this year by IIFA at Tampa is only second to the revenue they generated in 2011 at Toronto which was witness to 56,000 visitors.