Birmingham set for £56m windfall from Rugby World Cup
HOST cities for this year’s Rugby World Cup have been presented with a unique opportunity to deliver a range of short and long term objectives.
A new report assessing the impact of the economic impact of the tournament concludes that in the short term, the competition will stimulate spending whilst in the long term cities can aim to develop participation in sport and attract visitors and business alike.
EY’s The Economic Impact of Rugby World Cup 2015 predicts the tournament will attract more international visitors than any previous Rugby World Cup, with up to 466,000 visits expected during the duration of the competition, which starts later this month.
The visitors are expected to spend significant amounts, from purchasing tickets to travel costs, accommodation expense, match day entertainment and in visiting other local tourist attractions.
In total, international visitors are expected to contribute up to £869m in direct expenditure.
Investment in infrastructure for the tournament is expected to reach £85m, bringing lasting benefits to the host cities. The added exposure to a global market will also provide opportunities to attract future tourists and businesses alike, predicts the report.
In total, RWC 2015 is expected to deliver up to £2.2bn in output to the host economy, translating into an additional £982m of value added to GDP.
These benefits will be felt across the regions, with each host city expected to attract significant numbers of domestic and international visitors.
“The benefits generated by RWC 2015 will vary in nature from increased revenue for local accommodation providers to improved transport infrastructure in Host Cities. Along with the direct benefits, comes increased demand throughout the supply chain. This will ensure that revenue and benefits are spread across industries,” said the report.
“Our approach to measuring the benefits: EY have estimated the impact of RWC 2015 to the economy through the direct, indirect and induced contributions which are incremental to hosting the Tournament. The values that are estimated represent the benefits solely attributable to RWC 2015 and would not have existed, had the Tournament taken place elsewhere.
“We have presented the results to include a range of outcomes based upon two scenarios for visitor numbers and visitor spend, accounting for variance in overall demand as well as other items, such as VIP spend, air travel or media spend, which are difficult to accurately quantify but nonetheless impact upon the total values.”
Early estimates are that the tournament could deliver a £56m boost to Birmingham’s coffers – even though it is only staging two group games – South Africa v Samoa on Saturday September 26 and Australia v Uruguay the day after.
However, the report predicts there are also wider benefits through the tournament’s lasting legacy.
“Exposure as a Host City places them in a global shop window for attracting business investment and tourists. The visibility of the city name in stadiums and on television provides an advertising platform for local campaigns (at recent Football World Cups all stadiums have included city name banners),” states the report.
As part of their submission to host matches, bidding cities have had to develop plans to exploit the additional exposure and investment to drive forward future participation in the sport.
The sport of rugby is also expected to receive a boost in participation, and the report predicts Host Cities will gain exposure to a wider international and domestic market.
This may be overstating things for Birmingham, which has never had a high profile as a rugby town.
However, with the city falling within the catchment area for Wasps following its purchase of Coventry’s Ricoh Arena then interest in the sport could certainly spike.
