The Australian Open has rebounded more quickly than expected from two years of COVID restrictions: It’s breaking customer satisfaction records and will soon attract one million people a year.
And the event might turn a small profit against expectations after falling deeply into the red, tournament director Craig Tiley has told The Sunday Age and The Sun-Herald.
Australian Open director Craig Tiley at Melbourne Park on the second last day of the 2023 tournament. Credit:Eddie Jim
“We thought there would not be as a quick a recovery from COVID as there has been,” he said.
“Our CSAT [customer satisfaction] score is higher than it was in our most successful year which was 2020.”
The final customer satisfaction score for the three-week event is projected to be about 8.8 or 8.9 out of a potential 10, compared with the 8.5 achieved in 2020. The Open, run by Tennis Australia, surveyed about 5000 people each day to arrive at the figure.
“We are surprised this year about the amount of people that have come out,” Tiley said, but conceded the event will miss his “aspirational target” of 900,000 this year.
After two days of rain and one day of heat played havoc with the schedule, crowd numbers were down by about 50,000. And the event missed its traditional influx of visitors from China as its borders opened too late.
But Tiley is confident the overall event numbers will beat previous record of 812,714 attendees in 2020.
“We will eventually hit a million people through the gate and, and that’s going to be our next target. I don’t know if it will be next year but it is going to be pretty soon.”
The year 2020 was a record in several ways, with $387.7 million in economic impact, which crashed to $267.3 million last year, and 574,970 accommodation bed nights in 2020, which fell to 213,274 last year. International attendees, which were 13 per cent in 2020, are forecast to be about 9 per cent this year, up from 1.8 per cent last year.
The Australian Open has drawn record crowds. Spectators watch the men’s singles quarter-finals between Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev at Rod Laver Arena.Credit:Eddie Jim
“It’s the biggest show in Australia. I think Australians should be proud of it, it’s their event and we do get to showcase our country globally,” Tiley said.
The first two days of the event drew big crowds and on January 21, a Saturday, the Open broke its one-day attendance record with 94,854 ticket-holders coming through the gates.
This was more than the 82,507 at the MCG when India defeated Zimbabwe in the T20 Cricket World Cup in November, the 73,816 attendees at the Melbourne Cup in November.
But last year’s AFL Grand Final attracted 100,024 to the MCG in September when Geelong defeated Sydney. And two days of the Australian Grand Prix last year drew 128,294 and 123,247 spectators to Albert Park last April.
Tiley refers to the tournament as a “three-week extravaganza of entertainment” which can safeguard it against the absence of star players.
“We lost the greats of the game. Serena and Roger and then Rafa losing early and then all our top Australian players were injured,” he said.
“But we continue to provide a very diverse offering. We focus on the younger segments, 16 to 39 is a big focus of ours. Because that’s how we build long-term loyalty to the event, but at the same time providing enough of an exceptional experience for young kids and then also for all the families.”
The tournament director admits that those families can spend all day at the Open and ignore the tennis.
“You can. We’ve always said we’re a sport and entertainment event. Tennis is at the core of what we do. We have a pillar of music and a pillar of food with over 35 restaurants on site,” he said.
“And we have a pillar of kids and family and that is the ballpark where kids can go and play. So our whole idea is to provide entertainment offering that bring people to the tennis.”
He brushed off the idea that the event might move from Melbourne Park, a venue owned by the Victorian state government which is contracted to host the Open until at least 2039. That deal was extended when the delayed and COVID-hit 2021 Open forced Tennis Australia to spend its $80 million cash reserves and take out a $40 million state government loan.
“It’s a Melbourne event and it’s a special event for Melbourne,” Tiley said. “We can never rest on our laurels and we will always look to expand and look to grow.”
He said Tennis Australia was “happy to be tenants” at Melbourne Park, despite the Open being the only grand slam not to own its own site, but would like to save costs by making some temporary infrastructure builds permanent.
“No, we don’t want to own the site. We do lease it for 10 weeks during this period. And that works for us.”
The event might make a small profit this year, and the organisation has no debt, but also no cash reserves.
“We knew we were going in to hit our targets in media and sponsorship so that was locked in before the events,” Tiley said. “The uncertainty was ticketing and we were very bullish on our ticketing revenue.
“You always get nervous about being bullish, but it was the right decision because we will hit our ticketing revenue because we’ve had a lot of people on site.
Merchandise, run in conjunction with official outfitters Ralph Lauren, had to be restocked twice already.
“We had to replace pretty much everything in a very quick way after four days of the event and then we had that big Saturday and that changed it again.”
But how can the tournament director justify the sky-high prices, including the colour-blocked Polo Ralph Lauren shirts worn by ball kids, which will set shoppers back $179?
“Price is driven by demand,” he said.
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He spent six years in London working for The Guardian.Connect via Twitter or email.
