Prince George, B.C. – Tourism Prince George says three baseball tournaments held in Prince George over the summer provided a $5.2 million boost to the local economy.

Those tournaments were the 2016 Canadian Native Fastball Championships which hosted 77 teams from across Canada, the five team 2016 World Baseball Challenge, and the Midget AA Provincial Championships which hosted ten teams across the province.

That $5.2 million is an estimate from the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance’s sport tourism economic assessment Model (Steam). Over $4 million was generated by the Canadian Native Fastball Championships.

“Sporting events are major economic drivers in Prince George,” says Leanne Schinkel, sport and event development manager for Tourism Prince George. “These three events not only injected a lot of money into our economy this summer, but also created first class spectating opportunities and an electric atmosphere for visitors.”

Tourism Prince George says the sport tourism industry is the fastest growing segment of Canada’s tourism industry.

In 2014 for example it represented $5.2 billion in annual spending by domestic and international visitors (Statistics Canada).