San Diego Business Journal Comments on Big Bay Boom

BY JEFF CLEMETSON

Just in time for Veterans Day, the Armed Service YMCA San Diego released an economic impact report Nov. 10 on the organization’s key fundraising event – the annual Big Bay Boom fireworks show put on by Executive Producer Sandy Purdon’s H. P. Purdon & Co and Port of San Diego.

According to the report, economic impact of the 2024 Big Bay Boom totaled $100 million from visitors to San Diego, with the majority of the impact going to hotels and motels, restaurants and retail shops. The figure represents a 34% increase over the 2022 Big Bay Boom. For the Port’s businesses, tourists spent $10 million on them during the event, which represented an ROI of $22.16 for every dollar the Port invested into the event. Port of San Diego invested $445,000 for the 2024 Big Bay Boom.

“It is amazing how [Big Bay Boom] compares to the Farmers PGA Torrey Pines golf tournament and how it compares to Comic-Con,” Purdon wrote in an email to the Business Journal, highlighting another finding in the report – that the impact for the July 4 event is two-thirds the impact of the four-day Comic-Con, which brings in an around $160 million into the local economy each year.