FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
CONTACT: 
Angela Ryan, Equine Affaire
phone/fax: 740-845-0085 ext. 110
aryan@equineaffaire.com / www.equineaffaire.com 
Pictures available upon request.

Billion Dollar Industry Creates 
Millions in Tourism Dollars & Tax Revenue
COLUMBUS, OH, April  12–15, 2007 – Equine Affaire, the premiere horse exposition in North America, will return this April to the Ohio Expo Center. More than 100,000 attendees and participants from throughout the United States and beyond are expected at the four-day event, and most will be staying in the area for a long weekend. Though the majority of attendees will travel to Equine Affaire from Ohio and surrounding states, many will travel from throughout North America to attend this premiere equine event.

Equine Affaire attendees will utilize most of the hotel rooms and many of the restaurants in the Columbus area and generate millions of dollars of retail sales and sales tax revenue for merchants in the region. Franklin Co. will also realize vast sales tax revenue as a result of Equine Affaire attendees engaging in extensive shopping for all things horse-related within Equine Affaire’s huge trade show. More than 400 vendors will participate in this year’s event. 

Since 1994 Equine Affaire has drawn hundreds of thousands of people to central Ohio, lending proof to the fact that the horse industry is one of the largest sport industries in the country. There are roughly 9.2 million horses and 2 million horse owners in the United States with more than 4.6 million Americans directly involved in the equine industry. 

Ohio is clearly “horse country.”  According to the most recent agricultural census, the number of horses and ponies in Ohio has increased 32 percent in just five years. A study by the American Horse Council Foundation estimated that Ohio’s horse population is 306,898. That’s roughly one horse for every 37 people in the state. Equines and equine-related businesses are booming, the tri-state region of Ohio included. Overall, the industry has total impact of $102 billion on the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, contributing more than the motion pictures services, railroad transportation, furniture and fixtures, and tobacco product manufacturing industries.

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