Harrogate Borough Council have released a report saying that there was a £17.8 million economic benefit to the Harrogate District from the UCI cycle race during 2019.
The authority paid consultants, Ernst and Young to compile the report.
As with all reports, before you look at the claims, it is important to look at how it was compiled.
- 450 spectators were spoken to over the course of the event
- Online questionnaires were given to selected media and teams
- For the final weekend attendance numbers were formed by:
- Watching TV footage
- Fan Park entrance numbers
- Rail numbers
- Safety Officer reports
- Yorkshire 2019 estimates
- For the period before the final weekend, Yorkshire 2019 estimates were used
- The report assessed spending from visitors, media and race teams
- £17.8M claimed benefit is formed from estimates and is made up as:
- £10.1m directly spent
- £4.2m indirectly in the supply chain
- £3.5m induced spending (money spent by those that benefited from the UCI in the local economy
- Visit Britain data on tourism spending was used, with £6.3M being taken as normal spend for the 9-days, not attributed to the UCI
- The report does not factor in the losses of local business, economic gain is assessed from estimated expenditure
- The report does not factor any longer-term benefit or damage to the economy of Harrogate
- From the report:
- 69,000 unique spectators were present in Harrogate over the event
- 34% of visitors to the event were from Harrogate
- 66% of visitors were from outside Harrogate
Ernst Young say they have spoken with some local business representatives, some of whom had mixed views on the event.
The report acknowledges that some experienced a reduction in trade, but did not include that in the analysis.
The Harrogate District Chamber declined to comment to the Harrogate Informer about the report.
