SAGA Construction, Inc. partnered with OBXSE to sponsor the SAGA Outerbanks TRI last year in September. Some of the support for this event came from Dare County in terms of both money and volunteers. So the next question is, is this really a good use of the County’s resources? And the answer is a resounding YES! The return on investment (ROI) to Dare County is excellent and priceless in terms of long term success of the area.
OBXSE does surveys before and after the event the direct economic impact is over $545,000. See exhibit below as a reference. Impact is felt all around from the local restaurants, the rental cottages and hotels. What’s more interesting is that about 16% of the participants are first time outer banks visitors and this translates into more than 400 new visitors and some of these visitors will go on to become repeat guests and have an economic impact that is not as easily measured.
The SAGA Outerbanks TRI is now recognized as one of the best TRIs in the North Carolina and this year we expect the event to sold out again as the pre-registration numbers are close 30% ahead of last year’s numbers at the same time. The success of SAGA Outerbanks TRI is due to the support of our community, but it’s important to see that it’s the community that wins!