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PORTUGAL – UEFA Champions League final with remarkable economic impact in Lisbon
Lisbon witnessed an authentic Madrid invasion on Champions League final weekend (24th and 25th May). For the first time in its history, two teams from the same city competed for the coveted title, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
A study by IPAM – The Marketing School shows that the event’s economic impact in the city was of about EUR 45 million. However, the Portuguese economy will only invoice 11% of the total volume of the generated revenues, reveals the same study. “Between expenses on catering, travel, ticket sales, advertising, security, merchandising and television rights, from the preparation to the aftermath, the Champions final has registered an overall economic impact of € 409.8 million,” it reads.
Hotels in the Portuguese capital have held the biggest benefits in this impressive event. According to the study of IPAM, 54% of the impact generated by this sports final comes from overnight stays in the city. Restaurants have absorbed nearly a quarter (22%) of EUR 46.3 million of revenue generated in Lisbon only. Tourism activities have obtained 7% of revenues.
This massive event effects were particularly noticeable at Lisbon airport, but also in other national airports. “In total, 7.500 more passengers will be processed on charter flights and2.800 on private flights, adding more than 10.000 passengers to Lisbon airport, which represents an increase of 20% when compared to the usual number of passengers during this period”, revealed ANA Aeroportos, infrastructure manager company, before the event.
The event’s sponsors rose to the occasion and organized a series of parallel activities, mainly in the Terreiro do Paço fan zone. It was an opportunity for both the Portuguese event agencies and the suppliers to show their work capacity. DMCs were also very busy with the numerous groups that were in Lisbon on the event’s account. The final itself was attended by 250 organization members and 500 volunteers.
The total number of broadcast television viewers has already been revealed, reaching a total of 380 million in 200 countries. Several technical resources were mobilized for the transmission. This involved 33 cameras, including a “Spidercam” (remotely controlled). There were also 550 journalists and 200 photojournalists accredited.
The Portuguese capital is used to hosting large sports events. Ten years ago, Estádio da Luz welcomed the UEFA Euro 2004 championship final, held in Portugal. But the first big competition with epilogue in Lisbon was the UEFA European Cup final. The event took place on 25th May 1967, between Celtic and Inter Milan, and victory smiled at the Glasgow team.