The economic impact of having four teams in the highest category It can generate up to 40 million euros in Girona: 25 only with football and 15 with the rest of the teams that are in the elite. More than two months after the city experienced a historic day, June 19, with basketball triumphing in Fontajau and rising to the highest division, and hours later, the soccer team doing the same thing in Tenerife, Several initiatives are being prepared to take advantage of the good sporting streak, never experienced until now, and transfer sporting success to the tourism sector.
The consequences of the promotion to the highest category of the two teams are expected to be positive. A study published by the Chamber of Commerce in 2018 and updated in June 2022 calculates that the economic impact can reach 40 million euros for the double promotion and for also having women’s basketball and hockey in the highest category.
The figures are divided into various aspects and sectors. The president of the Association of Hotels, Tourism and Restaurants of Girona, Josep Carreras, considers that the impact on tourism could range between six and eight million. But he warns that neither in the 2017-2018 nor in the 2018-2019 campaign were these figures reached. They are “hopeful,” he says.
Carreras insists that having Girona in the Santander League and Bàsquet Girona in the Endesa League has a direct impact on shops, restaurants and hotels through the arrival of fans in the city. but he already warns that there is a clear conditioning factor so that the city can get the maximum economic return from sporting success: the calendar.
“Girona playing on Monday is something really bad for us because people can’t take a holiday during the week”, considers Carreras. And he gives the example of the first football game this season against Getafe, with “virtually no visiting fans” in the city. “The schedule of the matches is something essential for us,” he insists, and assures that they already verified it during the second season in the first division. “Girona played many Mondays and we noticed it above all in the accommodation”, says the president of the association. And he adds that since “displacements are expensive and people try to optimize their expenses as much as possible”, restoration is affected. “They’re not very happy,” he explains.
Racing, however, is more positive about the indirect impact of sporting success. “The publicity that the fact that Girona appears in all the media practically daily gives to the city is a campaign that we could never pay for,” he maintains. For him, “even the Montilivi stadium has become another attraction for football fans who come to the city at any time of the year.”
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The relationship between Girona Futbol Club and the city’s Hospitality, Tourism and Restaurant Association is “excellent”, says its president. Once August is over, he hopes that some of the initiatives that had been lost in recent seasons will be “resumed”, such as the sale of discount tickets from many of the city’s hotels. This same format is expected to be repeated with Bàsquet Girona, with whom they want to reach the same agreement.
In addition, Carreras works with the idea of creating a tourist package that includes a hotel, restaurants, a visit to the most emblematic places in Girona and a guided tour of the Montilivi stadium. The club also wants to promote this idea, which had been carried out in previous seasons, but had lost strength.
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Girona seeks tourist revenue from its sporting successes