Florence, 23 June 2024 – Il June 29th the most important and followed cycling competition in the world will start from Italy for the first time, with the stage Florence-Rimini. For Tuscany the Grand Départ of Tour de France it does not only represent an opportunity for spectacle and entertainment for the public, but it is also a tool capable of generating positive economic repercussions through investments made by the public administration and organizers and spending on goods and services that attract spectators and visitors from the event will pour into the territory.
Learn more:
Tour de France delegation received by Pope Francis
According to the survey carried out by the Tourist Studies Center of Florence with the collaboration of Irpet, the Tour de France will lead to an increase of 20 million euros in the gross domestic product in the region, the creation of 400 jobs and spending in the area of 29.6 million. Around 500 thousand people are expected for the preparatory phase and the departure of the first Florence-Rimini stage along the Tuscan route. Over the four days of the event, there could be around 162 thousand spectators arriving in the city from outside the province: 66% excursionists and 34% overnight stays, of which 17% are foreign tourists.
To these could be added 138 thousand presences of residents in the city-metropolitan area. Over 4 thousand people following the Tour including organizers, team members, technicians, professionals, who will spend the night between the capital and other Tuscan locations for four or five nights. Also arriving are 2,500 information operators and over 100 television networks that will broadcast the event in 190 countries, with approximately 170 million spectators for each stage.
Florence in yellow for the Tour de France (photo Giuseppe Cabras/New Press Photo)
The tourist component connected to the event will have an impact on the occupancy rate of accommodation facilities even in areas up to 50 kilometers from Florence, for an estimated 83 thousand overnight stays. This will translate into an increase in the occupancy rate of beds up to 90% in Florence (+17%) and 60% in the other municipalities in the area (+9%). Over two thousand employees will be involved in the requests for additional demand for goods and services, with a further direct and indirect employment impact. All these increased presences, from the members of the organization to the spectators, will inject an estimated cost of 20.7 million euros into the economic system .
To these values must be added the other consumption sustained by the spectators who would arrive as excursionists: from meals to drinks, from purchases from the commercial network to artisanal, artistic and food and wine products, from cultural consumption to entertainment services, for an expense of over six million euros. A further contribution will come from the spending of residents in the city and metropolitan area: for these spectators the value could amount to 2.9 million euros. Total expenditure, therefore, is 29.6 million, of which at least 9.6 million will be allocated to catering services, 9 million to hospitality services and 5.8 million to trade. Finally, the value of the media exposure of Florence in Italy during the days of the event could be around 4 million and the value of visibility on a global scale could reach 60 million euros.
“It is a sporting event, the fourth in the world for its ability to attract spectators and for its relevance at a global level, which will have very important repercussions on Tuscany. The greater pressure on the destination has positive effects on the average prices per room, but, above all , the Tour de France will have an extraordinary value from the point of view of the image of our territory”, he comments Daniele Barbettipresident of Federalberghi-Confcommercio Toscana.
“It is essential to continue investing in the sector of events, not only sporting, but also cultural, such as concerts and exhibitions of international importance. To make the most of these opportunities, we must focus on adequate infrastructure that allows us to host such events, thus demonstrating our ability to accommodate large-scale events”.
