Bowling Congress good for Baton Rouge business

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Officials and business owners in Baton Rouge say the city benefited economically from the presence of the U.S. Bowling Congress, which ended its five-month tournament Tuesday in the capital city.

The Advocate reports that this year's attendance for the USBC Open Championships was down about 7 percent from 2005, the last year the tournament was held in Baton Rouge.

However, Paul Arrigo, president and chief executive officer of the local convention and visitors' bureau, said he thinks new development, particularly downtown, prompted more spending by the roughly 60,000 bowlers and their families.

"This is just my opinion, but since 2005 there has been more development in the areas where they could spend time and money - more restaurants, hotels and attractions," he said. "The hotels have been very, very happy. The restaurants have been very, very happy."

Earlier this year, Mayor-President Kip Holden said the tournament was expected to pump about $90 million into the local economy. Precise figures won't be available for about two months.

Brian Lewis, the USBC's managing director of tournaments, said this year's lower attendance reflects the problems with the national economy, noting that the congress' last few tournaments have been down. He said there were 13,000 five-person teams when the tournament was held here in 2005, about a thousand more than this year.

"The city has again rolled out the red carpet to the bowlers and the bowlers have responded," Lewis said.

"All in all, the feedback we've gotten from the bowlers is how much they like Baton Rouge and Louisiana and how they've been treated by the city. We were all very pleased."

Arrigo said the Mayor's Office will make an announcement in about eight weeks with the economic impact and sales tax collections figures, though the numbers so far are encouraging.

Retail spending based on city-parish sales tax collection figures were up 8 percent in February, 7 percent March and 9 percent in April from year-ago statistics.

Arrigo said tax collections from hotels were up 16 percent in February, 35 percent in March, 32 percent in April and 30 percent in May.