THE ALBERT PARK GRAND PRIX, THE CLAIMS AND THE FACTS

• The Television Audience
• The World Television Audience - Those Fantastic Claims
• Some Facts
• What does the International Television Audience See and Hear?
• The Hotel Industry
• The Hotel Industry Projected Economic Benefits
• The Race Week Claims
• The Facts So Far on Grand Prix Visitors
• The Costs of Unrealistic Expectations

THE TELEVISION AUDIENCE

The World Television Audience - Those Fantastic Claims

Estimates of the number of countries receiving television broadcasts of the Grand Prix have varied wildly in press reports from 75 (The Australian 8/3/96) to 132 (Herald Sun 7/3/96, The Age 11/3/96), and claims of the viewing audience have ranged from 300 to 650 million.

Some Facts

According to the latest FIA data (1994) the race was received by a total of 121 countries in 1994. It is not clear if the 121 received broadcasts of all 16 races. The Wimbledon tennis championship and the 1994 soccer World Cup were broadcast to 145 and 188 countries respectively.

Claims that the Grand Prix "was watched by 650 million people" (Mike Drewer cited in Herald Sun, 11/3/96) are not supported by FIA figures. In 1994 an average of 332 million actually watched each of the 16 GP races, 382 million watched what are labelled 'additional programs' (such as practice sessions), and the rest saw it in on a news coverage. The 650 million would have to include the 382 million watchers of 'additional programs' who presumably included the same 332 million who watched the race.

Channel Nine ratings on Australian audiences for European Grand Prix races in 1995 indicate the average rating, i.e. percentage of potential audience, was not above 3%.

If we assume a very generous average world-wide rating of 5% for the Australian Grand Prix, that represents only 45 million sets. The various estimates of world audience for the Australian Grand Prix represent some interesting ratios of viewers to receivers:

Claimed TV Audience (millions)	Number of persons watching per receiver
100	2.2
300	6.7
400	8.9
500	11.1
600	13.3

Over 500 million of the 900 million sets are in North America and Europe where the average ratio of sets to adults over 15 years is 1:1 in North America and 1:2 in Europe. The Australian ratio is 1:1.6. In 1995 and 1996 the ratio of households watching to Grand Prix audience was also just over 1:1.6

Unfortunately the viewing data is supplied by FOCA and cannot be checked (AGPC Report 1994-95).

What does the International Television Audience See and Hear?

"The pictures that went to the world on 10 March... showcased Melbourne to the entire world as a city for the 21st century." (Ron Walker, The Age, 27/3/96).

According to reports from Alan Attwood in New York (The Age, 11/3/96), the event was introduced on ESPN2, "a secondary sports network" as "The Australian Grand Prix from Downunder". Attwood noted "You had to know your local geography to make sense of the landmarks as the cars whizzed by." Melbourne was described as a city on "the Pacific Rim".

Viewing of tapes from over 10 other countries found that:

• There was no promotional material on Melbourne; no commentator made any references to Melbourne's attractions beyond remarking that Melbourne was at the head of Port Phillip Bay;
• The French TFI telecast referred rather unflatteringly to the Melbourne weather as potentially cold and grey, and not as good as the Cote d'Azur;
• Swedish and Greek viewers received a commentary in English as, presumably, did many other smaller non-English speaking countries;
• While there were a number of attractive shots of Albert Park, the views of the city skyline were limited and incidental to shots of the race, and conveyed nothing of the character of the city nor served to distinguish it from any other city. The most prominent building was Park Towers, the public housing flats in South Melbourne.

THE HOTEL INDUSTRY

The Hotel Industry Projected Economic Benefits

"Accommodation, dining and entertainment spending by visitors from interstate and overseas will bring at least $100 million into Victoria." (CEO, Aust. Hotels Association, GP News, Issue 2,11/94).

The Race Week Claims

"The Australian Hotels Association's chief executive officer, Mr Alan Giles, said the Grand Prix had placed extreme demands on accommodation. Hotels were booked out throughout Melbourne and accommodation was difficult to find within a 100 kilometre radius of the city." ( Sunday Age, 10/3/96)

"The Victorian Accommodation Association's chief executive, Ms Sheila Hagendorfer, said motels and resorts within a 40 kilometre radius of the city were fully booked." (Sunday Age, 10/3/96).

"City of Melbourne Chamber of Commerce executive director Don Larkin said overseas and international visitors were expected to spend $35 million " (Sunday Herald Sun, 10/3/96).

The Facts So Far on Grand Prix Visitors

31,000 interstate and overseas visitors are claimed to have "attended the event", but only 56% (17,000) "would not have visited Victoria if it were not for the Grand Prix" (Minister for Tourism media release, 28/3/96)

The hotels were not booked out. A survey of hotels conducted by the hotel industry itself found that:

Only 61% of hotels were full on the Thursday-Saturday nights;

The percentage of hotels full dropped to 44% on the Sunday night, indicating that many visitors left once the race was over;

57% of the hotels responding to the survey had rooms handed back by Qantas, the Grand Prix Corporation, Ansett and other group operators.

City motels were advertising rooms in The Age and Herald Sun as late as 7 March 1996.

The Middle Park Hotel, "just a skid away from the Grand Prix track", was advertising rooms up until the race week. It had 15 rooms on 23 February (Herald Sun, 23/2/96).

But you didn't need to read an industry survey to know this:

"And if you are planning to visit Melbourne for the 1997 race, do not spend a fortune on accommodation. People were getting rooms in the city - sometimes even within walking distance of the track - for relatively normal tariffs in the week of the race. The Regency even advertised rooms for the race weekend!" (David Hassell, Motorsport News, 15 March 1996).

The Costs of Unrealistic Expectations

The unrealistic expectations led to an artificial shortage of accommodation. The Monash Student Housing Services felt obliged to send out an 'Accommodation Crisis' appeal to all students and staff for temporary billets.

"Tariffs on hotel rooms, motel rooms, serviced apartments and guest houses have risen between 400% and 500% during the period 1st March 1996 to 17th March."

"Accommodation providers are not accepting reservations for anything less than 7 nights."

The consequences of this information are obvious - anyone planning a convention or conference would avoid March, and normal visitors to Moomba would have been deterred. In economists' language the Grand Prix means real social costs to students and avoidance costs to the whole community.

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