Benefits race to Dandenong

By Sarah Schwager
PREPARATIONS for the Shannons Sandown Classic next Saturday will see more than just extra faces in Dandenong.
According to local businesses and council, business will be booming in Dandenong around the final Melbourne metropolitan component of the Spring Racing Carnival.
Greater Dandenong festival and events coordinator Leonie King said Sandown’s standout event had significant flowon benefits to the city.
“You can imagine the impact on business would be substantial,” she said.
This will be the first year the Sandown Classic has had fashions on the field.
“You only need to look at Flemington and Caulfield to see the amount of retail outlets that that benefits,” Ms King said.
She said some of the traders in Dandenong were already behind the fashion side of the racing meet for next Saturday (12 November).
Gentleman’s clothing store Sires on Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, has joined the fashion parade and put up a display on racing in its front window.
“They’ve made the connection of the event to the retail benefits for the store,” Ms King said.
She said besides the retail benefits there would also be significant benefits for restaurants and accommodation around the Sandown events, not to mention the economic impact of the racing teams staying in Dandenong for Sandown.
“What you can’t measure is the exposure that gives us a city,” Ms King said.
She said the race gave significant exposure to the area, being broadcast nationally at the TAB and also on news broadcasts.
Ramada Encore Hotel sales and marketing manager Amanda Rottman said despite keeping the same number of people on at the hotel, the business had a greater number of guests than expected during the Spring Racing Carnival.
“We always make sure we have a number of people on board from casual to fulltime staff, whether it is Sandown Racing or a big conference,” she said.
“You need to be able to call people up at the last minute if there is an event on.”