Overall Event Attendance
The overall attendance for the Halifax portion of the 2008 IIHF World Men’s Hockey Championship was 203,925 people.

Economic Impact (Estimated)
The combined total of visitor, capital and operational spending as a result of hosting the 2008 IIHF World Hockey Championship is estimated to total $9,000,222. These expenditures are expected to generate a total of $22,307,510 of economic activity in the province.

The 2008 IIHF World Hockey Championship is estimated to provide a total of 162.5 jobs for HRM and an additional 67.2 jobs for the remainder of the province. These jobs will create a total of $6,229,028 in wages and salaries for Nova Scotia.

The total level of taxes supported by the 2008 IIHF World Hockey Championship is estimated at $3,399,983.

Hotel Rooms
There were approximately 12,000 hotel room nights booked directly for this event.

Volunteers
There were 602 volunteers, each signing up for 50 plus hours of service, working for this event.

Outside NS Ticket Sales
Ticket Packages for Halifax were bought in every province and territory in Canada except Nunavut (totaling 552):
Newfoundland - 119 packages, New Brunswick - 121 packages, PEI - 35 Packages
Ontario - 184 Packages, Quebec - 21 Packages, Manitoba - 2 Packages, Saskatchewan - 7 Packages, Alberta - 40 Packages, British Columbia - 19 Packages, Northwest Territories - 4 Packages.

A total of 79 Packages were sold to Americans.

Individual International Packages totaled 471:
UK- 4 Packages, Russia - 3 Packages, Finland - 124 Packages, Germany - 230 Packages, Greece - 1 Package, Austria - 11 Packages, Iceland - 3 Packages, Slovakia - 75 Packages, Estonia - 4 Packages, Denmark - 2 Packages, United Arab Emirates - 8 Packages, Italy - 4 Packages, Switzerland - 2 Packages.

Group Ticket Package totaled 1,625:
Latvia – 600, Slovenia –324, England - 1, Germany - 442, Finland - 108, Norway - 50 and Slovakia - 100.

Television/Broadcast Coverage
Planning and production for more than 2,800 hours of television coverage worldwide, with live broadcasting in 25 countries and an estimated worldwide viewership of over 560 million viewers.

Worldwide Audience (results from 2006 IIHF World Championship in Latvia):

• 2,871 hours of TV coverage WORLDWIDE
• 35 TV stations onsite (400 accredited TV staff)
• 750 accredited print media journalists
• 15 radio stations onsite
• 25 Transmission/TV-technician vans
• Live broadcasting in 25 countries, total TV stations transmitting: 163
• Official website of the event: www.ihwc.net
• Number of total clicks: 50 million hits / 107 million page views

Media
186 accredited media were registered for the Halifax portion of the event.

Ancillary Event Activity
As part of the event, we worked at generating spin-off business that could bring additional benefits to Halifax and Nova Scotia while generating incremental hotel room nights and game ticket sales. Here is a list of the ancillary events that took place as a result of the event:

• 2008 World Adult Recreational Hockey Challenge (over 100 teams): May 5-10, 2008
• 1976 Canada Cup Alumni Program
• Canadian Sponsorship Forum: A major conference of event industry leaders was held in Halifax from May 4-6, 2008 with over 300 delegates
• Trade conference: Operated by World Trade Centre Atlantic Canada, this engaged trade partners from countries participating in the event in Halifax and may result in a reciprocal outbound mission in 2010 to Germany which is hosting the event that year, and perhaps an even more formalized leveraging vehicle for trade and investment surrounding major events (such as a business club).
• Canadian Hockey Foundation Youth Ticket Program: A grant was provided by the Canadian Hockey Foundation to assist in the purchase of tickets for local underprivileged youth who would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend a game in Halifax.
  
  
  

Business Partnership Opportunities
Read Bill Power's report from the May 7th edition of The Chronicle-Herald about how visiting Latvian hockey fans were exploring potential business opportunities with local Nova Scotia companies.


Comments from our Community Partners and Stakeholders

“Halifax Stanfield International Airport has enjoyed working with Trade Centre Limited to support the 2008 World Hockey Championship. The Airport provided space for promotional signage throughout the terminal building and coordinated VIP welcoming arrangements with the Host Organizing Committee. This has been another tremendous success for both Halifax and Nova Scotia."

Peter Spurway
Vice-President, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs
Halifax International Airport Authority



"What a week it has been! Busy, full of life, lots of new friends and many, many visitors who will return! They have enjoyed every minute of it and we have enjoyed having them! That is what some of our members of the Hotel Association of Nova Scotia have responded back to me when I (as the President of the Hotel Association of Nova Scotia) asked "how is it going?"
     Halifax is certainly at its best when we're busy entertaining "come-from-aways!" Our locals are outstanding ambassadors for our city and provinces' hospitality... as one of our hoteliers said, "Canadian hospitality doesn't get any better than in Halifax!Welcoming the world to Halifax for an event such as the 2008 IIHF World Championship allows us to show the first-class facilities we have in Halifax and Nova Scotia, but as importantly, to open our hearts up to the connection with people from other countries to see just how lucky we are to live here, work here and play here!"

Mary Dempster
Hotel Manager & President of the Hotel Association of Nova Scotia