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$61 Million Impact of Flower Show Grows the Region
by Alan Jaffe, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society - posted 2/14/2011
The tremendous effects of spending related to the Show in the state of Pennsylvania and the Greater Philadelphia region
PHILADELPHIA (February 2011) – The economic impact of the Philadelphia International Flower Show extends much longer than the eight-day event and far beyond the walls of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. This year, a new study conducted by the audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP found that the Flower Show provides an economic benefit to the Greater Philadelphia region of $61 million.
“The data that we have analyzed confirms that the Flower Show has a positive economic impact on the region,” said Gus Lee, KPMG Tax Principal.
“We are extremely proud to play such a vital role in the success and growth of this region,” said Drew Becher, President of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, at a press conference Feb. 11 at the Rittenhouse Hotel.
The study focused on direct, indirect and induced effects of spending related to the Show in the state of Pennsylvania and the Greater Philadelphia region, which included the state of New Jersey. The findings reveal that the event serves as a powerful economic engine that generates:
- $61 million economic impact
- The equivalent of 637 full-time jobs
- $8 million in city, state and federal tax revenue
- 25,000 hotel room nights
“The Flower Show has been great for our city for many years. It brings in visitors from the suburbs and out of town, and they’re the type of guests who are more likely to visit a museum and other attractions and have dinner while they’re in town,” said Ed Grose, Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. “With the expansion of the Convention Center, we can also host a convention while the Flower Show is taking place, which gives those visitors another great thing to do while in Philadelphia.”
The KPMG report also found that the Show has a national impact of $100 million. That impact is reflected in the participation from across the country, including volunteers from 41 states and exhibitors from 26 states.
“Throughout PNC’s 20 years as Presenting Sponsor, we always understood that the Flower Show made a positive financial impact on the local economy,” said J. William Mills, III, regional president of PNC for Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. “We’re pleased and impressed to see that not only do the findings from the KPMG study validate our assumptions on the local level, but provide new insight on the financial impact nationally.”
The economic reach of the Flower Show is also evident this year in new relationships with nationally renowned brands. This year, QVC, the multimedia retail leader, is scheduled to broadcast live from the Show floor for the first time, and Smith & Hawken for Target will have an exhibit that highlights new garden products available online.
Local businesses see a positive impact from the Flower Show that rivals their biggest sales weeks. A close neighbor of the Flower Show, the Reading Terminal Market, welcomes an influx of retail and restaurant business every year because of the event. “All our merchants look forward to it for months in advance,” explained Paul Steinke, manager of the Reading Terminal Market. “As far as customer traffic, the Flower Show is bigger than Thanksgiving, it’s bigger than Christmas – it’s the biggest week of the year at the Reading Terminal Market.”
Year-Round Impact
Revenues from the Flower Show raise an average of $1 million for the year-round community greening programs of PHS.
One of the most innovative of those programs is City Harvest, through which more than 65,000 pounds of fresh produce has been harvested, providing organic vegetables to more than 1,000 underserved families each week during the growing season.
This year, PHS is proud to announce the largest multi-state tree planting initiative: Plant One Million. This effort is the nation’s first multi-state tree planting campaign to encourage the planting of one million trees in 13 counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
PHS will lead this effort in partnership with local governments, corporate sponsors, organizations, schools, civic groups and residents.
“Trees are vital to the environmental and economic well-being of the region, and this program will have a major impact on the health of our communities,” Becher said.
The 2011 Philadelphia International Flower Show benefits PHS and is presented by PNC. This year’s presentation, “Springtime in Paris,” will be held March 6 to 13 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. PHS has 17,000 members throughout the country, offers hundreds of educational programs year-round, and is considered the nation’s leading authority on transforming communities through greening.
For more information about PHS and contributing online to City Harvest and Plant One Million, please visit PHSonline.org.
KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm (www.us.kpmg.com) is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International Cooperative (KPMG International). KPMG International’s member firms have 138,000 professionals, including more than 7,900 partners, in 150 countries.
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (www.pnc.com) is one of the nation’s largest diversified financial services organizations providing retail and business banking; residential mortgage banking; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management; asset management and global fund services.
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