The Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 departure stopover in Alicante generated a boost for the Community of Valenciana valued at €66.3 million and €89.3 for Spain as a whole, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers economic impact study released on Tuesday.
The study, presented at a news conference at the Race’s museum in Alicante by the Community’s regional minister, Juan Carlos Moragues, showed a rise of 7.1% of financial benefit to the region compared to the last edition in 2011-12.
This improvement was even more impressive bearing in mind that the Alicante race departure stopover last month was held over 10 days (October 2-11 inclusive) compared to 23 in 2011.
Alicante has been the departure port for the nine-month global round-the-world race for the past three editions dating back to 2008 and also hosts the Race’s headquarters.
Key data from the report shows:
- 313,463 visitors entered the Alicante Race Village.
- These visitors generated €34.18 million for the Community of Valenciana.
- 58,208 visited on October 9, a bank holiday in the region. This was the highest total for a day during the period (October 2-11).
- The stopover generated the equivalent of 1,716 new full-time jobs for Spain as a whole, of which 1,652 were created in the region of Valenciana.
- 69.9% of the international visitors, who came to the region of Valenciana because of the Volvo Ocean Race, confirmed that they would return in the future.
- 97% of those said they would recommend the region as a tourist destination.
Knut Frostad, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race since 2008, told the conference via a link from Abu Dhabi on Tuesday: “This has been the best departure stopover that I have ever seen. This is a view that is shared by the sponsors, teams and visitors.
“I believe we can celebrate the collaboration that we’ve had (with the Community of Valenciana) until now and I’m delighted to continue this close working relationship towards the Volvo Ocean Race in 2017-18.”
– VOR Media
