Cycling fans who went to Harrogate in Yorkshire to watch the
World Road Championships last September spent £22.5 million during the racing,
a new report has said.
The financial impact of people coming to the town for the racing is outlined in a new report - The economic impact of Yorkshire 2019: Harrogate impact study findings.
It was commissioned by Harrogate Borough Council and was carried out by Ernst & Young and found 69,000 spectators went to Harrogate, thought many of them attending a number of days and so beefing up crowd numbers across the total nine days.
While the size of the crowds are estimates, the numbers are
perhaps smaller than one might expect, especially for the UK and for the region
as the Tour de Yorkshire draws huge crowds each year.
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However, the very bad weather and the fact the racing was spread
out – with the starting point of the races in different places – it is perhaps
no surprise the crowds appear relative small for a Worlds held in Britain.
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The report found:
- 69,000 unique spectators were present in Harrogate for the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, contributing to total event attendance in Harrogate of over 299,000 over nine days, compared to 712,000 in total across Yorkshire.
- 46,000 unique spectators – 66% of the total – were visitors from outside of Harrogate.
- In total, visiting spectators to Harrogate spent over £22.5m during their stay, directly benefitting a range of sectors.
- 849 accredited journalists travelled to Harrogate, while 2,100 accredited team members from 67 nations were present.
- In total these visiting media and teams spent over £2.3m in Harrogate over the course of the event.
- Of the 46,000 spectators that visited from outside of Harrogate, around 14,000 came from elsewhere in Yorkshire, while over 20,000 visited from the rest of the UK and almost 12,000 were visiting from another country. The majority of international visitors came from within Europe (85%).
- Total visitor spending in Harrogate over the course of the championships is estimated at £22.5m.
- Overall 24,000 visitors stayed overnight in Harrogate, while 22,000 made day trips into Harrogate, either from their home or another base outside of Harrogate.
- Visitors spent £9.0m on accommodation in Harrogate, making this their largest item of spending.
- In addition to this, visitors spent a further £5.9m on food and drink, £5.1m on retail, tourism and other activities, and £2.5m on transport.
There was only modest resistance to holding the
racing in the area with seven per cent saying they were “high dissatisfied”
with the event.
However, despite this Harrogate Borough
Council is on record as saying it intends to take a break from hosting major
cycling events for a period.
It revealed last year it had been
approached about being a host town for the Tour de Yorkshire but had declined
the offer as it believe locals wanted a break for cycling events.
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