Eurofans have dreamed for decades that the Spanish interpreter would win the mystical crystal microphone at Eurovision Song Contest, making Spain the venue for the next edition. The last time, and the only time, we welcome him in 1969 after ‘La, la, la…’ by Masiel and with the only four-way series in the history of this event and televised gala at the Teatro Real in Madrid. Since then we have occasionally touched the sky with our fingers, the most recent example with Channel ‘bronze’ last year. But what if, on this Saturday night, Blanca Paloma and her ‘Eaea’ did they achieve the feat? What would be the impact if this event happened in a Spanish city? EAE School of Business marketing professor Chelo Morillo recalls that “in 1969 the economic impact around 100 million old pesetas, which is now around 600,000 euros”.

And actually? Morillo cites a study conducted by the Last Venue of the Festival (2022), an Italian city Turin, which estimates the economic impact of the contest organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) at 100 million euros, mainly in revenue from advertising and tourism. In particular, the city’s regional tourism observatory was detected 18% increase in the number of visitors during the week Eurovision was held. For its part, the Turin Chamber of Commerce deciphered the aforementioned figures and indicated them €66 million will come from international advertising campaigns while another 23 million will come from tourism.

The Turin City Council, which hosted the festival last year, estimates an economic impact of €100 million in tourism revenue and advertising.

In total, the Turin authorities estimate up to 63,000 people attended the nine live events was held despite the net number of viewers (delegate and sponsor discounts) reaching 128,000. At the same time, more than 220,000 people passed through the fan zone called ‘Euro Village’. The event also had a media impact which was also noted by the Turin authorities: 161 million viewers from 34 countries while information about this event reaches more than 400 million people. In its annual report, with data for 2021 when it takes place in Rotterdam (Netherlands), the EBU itself talks about the fact that 183 million viewers follow it on television and 50 million users view content related to the festival. Of these, 71% are under 35 years old.

Strengthening for ‘Marca España’?

EAE School of Business experts highlight from the data provided by Turin that of the 58,000 visitors who traveled to the Italian city, 55,000 did so for the festival during the week of May 9-15. Of all that, added Morillo, they came from English, Spanish, German and French. The majority, 71.3%, spend the night in the city and most choose accommodation other than hotels. “They catch the weekend, go out and go to events they love,” said the teacher who also appreciated the impact on audience levels both before and after the festival.

In line with that, the branding professor also underlined the relevant intangible impact on the country’s brand for the country that hosted the event. “The state brand must be present in the minds of the peopleIf you don’t invest, the country will disappear. Because of this, many are fighting to organize the Olympics, the World Cup,… they are competing for the spotlight,” this analyst mirrors.

“The country’s brand must be in the minds of people, if not invested the state will disappear”, Chelo Morillo (EAE Business School)

For Morillo, hosting the Festival would be good for Spain and his country’s brand, which he said would be “amplified” by the youth tourism associated with the Festival. In this case, remember our strengths as organizers “of around 1,000 annual music events reporting 5.6 million euros a year”. According to him, Spain has a stronger brand than Turin and there is no shortage of tourist attractions with stadiums prepared to accommodate hundreds of Eurofans.

Liverpool’s Hope

These days, British media such as ‘The Guardian’, have echoed studies of West Bank Nat predicting the impact of holding the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool throughout the week 40 million pounds (about 45.96 million euros) in terms of tourist spending. Of this, up to 28 million pounds (about 32.17 million euros) will come from international tourists. In particular, they added that the British city has received 100,000 additional visitors on the occasion of this event. In particular, from British Hospitality tourism entrepreneurs, they believe that the combination of the coronation of Carlos III and the famous music contest can provide an extra injection 1 billion pounds (1.149 million euros) this month for the sector.

UK Hospitality calculates that the coronation of Carlos III and Eurovision will inject the tourism sector by 1,000 million pounds (1,149 million euros).

But hosting an event with the characteristics of a Eurovision Song Contest means significant expenditure for local authorities and the UK government. As the BBC reports, the liverpool city hall has allocated four million pounds (nearly 4.6 million euros) for this event while eReign of the ‘Tory’ Rishi Sunak has committed 10 million (almost 11.5 million euros).