TH banks on tourism boom

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - This weekend’s High School Girls’ State Basketball Championship is expected to draw dozens of girls from eight different teams, and hundreds of their friends and family members expected to spend $1 million as tourists in Terre Haute.

“The financial impact of this is significant,” said David Patterson, executive director of the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau. “But the fact that we’re showcasing our community, in a good moral spotlight, showcasing our Hulman Center, through a basketball venue, it’s really a good deal!”

Patterson admitted Terre Haute is an “event market,” meaning visitors are by and large coming here for a specific event; not just as sight-seeing tourists taking in the city.

But he does hope visitors leave here with a positive impression of Terre Haute.

This is the 38th year for the basketball tournament, but only the second year, consecutively, that IHSAA has selected Terre Haute as its host city.

The first competition gets underway at Hulman Center at 10:30 a.m. Saturday; the evening session, expected to draw a sell-out crowd, gets underway at 6:00 p.m.