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The UK may not have flourished in the Eurovision Song Contest earlier this year when it stepped up to host on behalf of Ukraine, but the city of Liverpool emerged a winner.
The BBC reports that the council for host city Liverpool has announced a £55million ($66.66m) boost to the local economy, directly resulting from the Contest and its surrounding events in May.
The council reported that 306,000 people visited the centre in the weeks and days leading up to the Contest, attending the two Semi-Finals, the Grand Final, and a catalogue of other events held across the centre – well up on the 100,000 visitors expected ahead of the extravaganza.
In total, these visitors spent £54.8m ($66.4m) in bars, hotels and restaurants.
An estimated 162m global audience tuned in for the televised Grand Final. Next year’s Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden, after their entrant Loreen – now a double winner – triumphed in Liverpool with her song Tattoo. The UK, despite a huge press campaign to boost its chances and the advantage of being the home nation, came second last in this year’s Contest.
The council’s research included:
- Eurovision events had total attendances of 473,000, with some people going to more than one event
- The visitors included 31,000 from outside the UK, with fans from 49 countries at the main live shows
- 42% of overseas visitors said it had a positive impact on how they viewed the UK, with 51% unchanged and 5% saying they don’t know
- 175,000 city-centre hotel rooms were sold in May – the best month since 2018
- There were 250,000 visitors to the fan village over 10 days
- An audience of 326,000 saw 24 events in the two-week cultural festival
- The education and community programmes directly engaged with 50,000 people
- 96% of visitors said they would recommend Liverpool as a destination to visit
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