Out-of-town bowlers also renting apartments for USBC

we’ve reached the midway point in the four-month long united states bowling congress championships … and it looks like all is on track for the city to see a 75 to 100 million dollar impact! welcome back to abc-seven at six, i’m rick cabrera. and i’m estela cas. abc-seven tonight with early numbers already showing a big economic impact on el paso… even in some unexpected areas. our darren hunt tells us local hotels aren’t the only places housing all these visitors. darren is live from the convention center in downtown el paso to explain … if you’ve ever traveled anywhere… you know hotels can get a little pricey the longer you stay there. even with some bowlers trying to save a buck… the city is well on track to hit a strike: has it been good, yes, it has yeah … how good, has it been better than you thought? yes, it’s been really, really good.” mariela martinez is running a souvenir store inside the convention center. “the impact has been huge … we’re really starting to feel things now.” rick lafleu is g-m of the airport wyndam and president of the el paso hotel-motel association. “i’m not only getting my normal airport traffic, i’m getting that compression from downtown.” more than 18-thousand bowlers have come through already … and another 18- thousand or even more are expected during the final two months. ” may and june are jampacked, a lot of bowlers, and as school lets out and families are able to travel together.” last march, el paso hotel occupancy was at 70 percent … This march, that number jumped five percent. hotel occupancy taxes are also up. “i just can’t say it enough, ho unbelievable it is to put 600 to 800 to 900 rooms every night in your city for four months, it goes on and on.” “while hotels and restaurants are perhaps seeing the biggest impact from the usbc championships, places like this, apartments, are also seeing a bit of an impact.” “they will be staying here fo about five to six months … ” some officials and vendor for the usbc have been staying at the magoffin park villas, near downtown. “i was under the impression the would all be staying at hotels … it was great to see the impact with that.” “if the second half is as goo as the first half, what does that mean for you? more money .” the numebr of hotel rooms in el paso booked for the month of march was at 70 percent… that’s up five percent from march of last year. darren, we’ll have to see how high those numebrs jump from now until july. thank you. tick, tock, tick tock! a