ATB Financial: Contribution of Culture and Sport to GDP

From music festivals and libraries to sporting events and video game design, Albertans both produce and enjoy a wide range of cultural and sports activities. In economic terms, these activities generated more than $6.1 billion of GDP for the province in 2017, or about 2.0 per cent of that year’s total GDP.

Culture-related activities account for majority, at 86.5 per cent of the total GDP. In per capita terms, that amounts to $1,248 of GDP generated per Albertan compared to $194 for sports activities. The national figures are $1,448 per person for culture and $180 per person for sport.

The largest sub-sector is audio-visual and interactive media at $1.9 billion (31.1 per cent of the total culture and sport GDP). According to Statistics Canada, this sub-sector “includes activities related to video game publishing, film, television and video production, as well as motion picture exhibition.”