He said the Open’s numbers this year were remarkable given two days of bad weather,the late opening up of China,which he estimated cost the tournament about 60,000 Chinese visitors,and the loss of many marquee players.
“It was reported thatwe didn’t have the greats any more,that it was going to be terrible,” he said. “But people just want to be entertained. They want to have some fun,and tennis is a great option for them,and it’s become a summer thing to do for Melburnians and for Australians and also for our guests from around the world.”
The Australian Open has the benefit of space,with Tiley making the most of the vast expanse of Melbourne Park to fit in everything from beach bars to padel tennis courts and retail outlets.
In comparison,areas for spectators at Wimbledon are limited and tennis fans squeeze onto “Murray’s Mound” in the evening as one of the few gathering spots outside the stadiums.
This year,the Open expanded further outwards along Birrarung Marr for a kids’ section that included a ropes course,an abseiling tower and a giant waterslide,alongside tennis skills games.
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Tiley plans to expand the physical footprint as well as the timing of the Open.
He takes heart from the tournament’s final Sunday,when Rod Laver Arena was close to its capacity of 14,850 for the men’s final between Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
But most attendees weren’t even inside the stadium – a record attendance of 45,832 spectators on Sunday mostly came from fans watching the big screens outside the arena.
Television ratings,meanwhile,were hit by the absence of big names. A spokesman for Nine,which owns this masthead,said 10 million people tuned in this year,down from the 12.5 million last year.
“Coming off a year where Ash Barty and the Special Ks[Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis] won,it was always going to be a tough act to follow,but this year we have seen a huge 9Now viewership,as viewers continue to migrate from linear to streaming,” he said.
The Open’s champagne sponsor,Piper-Heidsieck,doubled the size of its champagne bar at Rod Laver Arena this year and expects to have doubled sales within the bar to surpass last year’s sales of 42,000 glasses of champagne.
“The opportunity to really turn this event into a festival has been achieved,” Piper-Heidsieck managing director Benoit Collard said.
Paul Guerra,chief executive of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce,said that with its international television audience,Melbourne had been the “envy of the world” for the past two weeks.
“Melbourne has had through COVID a different reputation. By showing these pictures all over the world,[it’s] going to encourage internationals to say actually,‘Melbourne looks like it’s open and buzzing,’ ” he said. “We need the internationals back here. We need the international workers back here. We need the international students back here.”
Guerra said the Open had economically benefited the city more broadly.
“The hotels are telling me that accommodation has certainly been up over the past couple of weeks. Restaurateurs that I’ve spoken to really had a great couple of weeks as well,” he said.
Last year,the Open brought in $405 million for Victoria,and while this year’s figure has not been released yet,Tiley said he expected it to be much more than that.
The tournament itself is likely to turn a small profit as it exceeded its revenue targets through ticketing,merchandise sales,food and beverage sales but incurred higher than expected costs due to inflation.
Florencia Aimo,head of marketing for hotel group and Open sponsor Marriott International,said Marriott hotels in Melbourne were at 80 per cent occupancy during the tournament and at 84 per cent in the CBD.
“People are really happy that we are kind of back to normal and beyond,” she said. “Business is back,travel is back,events are back.”
Marriott has one year left on its contract with the Australian Open,and Aimo said the hotel group is starting discussions to potentially extend the arrangement,which she said was “beyond tennis”.
Producer Michael Cassel was grateful his upcoming show,&Juliet, was able to take over the centre court at the Open for a pre-game preview.
“For us,it is a wonderful opportunity to introduce our productions to a broad audience,many of whom have travelled to Melbourne,and many of whom are keen to participate in a variety of activities beyond the tennis schedule,” Cassel said.
The City of Melbourne recorded weekend activity at Southbank up 36 per cent compared with the same time in 2019 and up 35 per cent on weekend nights.
Theatre owner Jason Marriner said January was the biggest month of the year for theatre visits,and Australian Open attendees helped drive these numbers.
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