The Tall Ships Tacoma 2008 festival generated $19.2 million in economic impact, according to a study conducted by an outside company and released by event officials Friday.

And of the roughly 300,000 people attended this year’s event about 48,000 visitors came from more than 50 miles away. On average, they stayed 2.6 days and spent $88.09 per person per day.

Stan Selden, the co-chairman of the Tacoma Tall Ships Organization, hailed the report as good news several weeks after the nonprofit announced it ran the festival at a $500,000 deficit.

“It’s a very, very positive plus for all the efforts we all put into it,” he said. “It’s the rest of the story.”

The festival drew fewer visitors than organizers had hoped in part because of the constant threat of rain. Selden also believes the economy played a factor in how much people spent at the event.

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Still, the report casts the event in a positive light. Its findings include:

● $10.2 million in “new money,” or the economic impact of visitors and visiting vendors,
● $6.6 million in retained local economic impact, or money that would have left the area without the festival,
● $1.1 million in state sales tax,
● $229,047 in Tacoma sales tax.

The study, conducted and compiled by Port Angeles-based Birchhill Enterprises and paid for by Pierce County, also included information about visitors, including:

● The average time spent at the festival was 3.87 hours,
● 71 percent did not attend the inaugural 2005 festival,
● 24 percent spent more than one day at the event,

The economic study did not include the permanent improvements to infrastructure in the Thea Foss Waterway, for which the Tacoma Tall Ships Organization received a $1 million grant from the state.

Selden said the organization is making progress on shoring up its deficit and remains in contact with all its creditors. He declined to give an exact number on how much has been raised so far but said the organization is collecting money through accounts receivable and donations.

“We’re kind of like a start-up,” he said. “We did a hell of a job, but we just ran out of cash.”

Tacoma wasn’t the only tall ships festival to release an impact statement this week. Officials from the Victoria, B.C., event said their festival, held June 26-29, attracted 32,535 paid attendees and generated $5.8 million toward the local economy.

About 44 percent came from beyond Vancouver Island to attend the event, including about 5 percent from Washington.