The 2023 Giro d’Italia generated direct and indirect revenue of €2 billion according to research and a survey carried out by Banca Ifis, an Italian bank that specialises in helping small and medium sized Italian companies.
The research, seen by Cyclingnews and presented at the recent Festival dello Sport organised by La Gazzetta dello Sport, revealed that €605 million of revenue was derived from the immediate impact produced by the spectators attending the Corsa rosa during the three weeks of the race. A further €15 million was spent by race organisers RCS Sport, sponsors and the teams during the three weeks of the race.
Banca Ifis suggests that the Giro d’Italia also generates deferred economic benefits of €1.4 billion, based on the calculation of tourism spending by those who return or travel to Italy within 18 months after seeing the Giro d’Italia. A further €15 million was generated by infrastructure investments to host the race.
With venture capital investors, including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, reportedly considering working with a number of leading teams to shake-up and transform the sport, the Banca Ifis data indicates the potential value of the Giro d’Italia.
The numbers were elaborated after a survey of fans at the 2023 Giro d’Italia and of visitors to the official Giro d’Italia website.
According to Banca Ifis’ research, the Giro d’Italia attracted around 2.1 million spectators to watch the race from the roadside, with 7.3% or 156,000 of those coming from outside of Italy.
The visitors saw the race for an average of 2.4 days, spending €121 per day on hotels, food, shopping, transport and other activities. The average daily spend rises to €287 for the iconic mountain stages in the Dolomites and elsewhere.
Indirect revenue of €575 million was generated by the spectators returning to where the Giro passed for holidays and tourism, while €830 million came from people visiting Italy after seeing the Giro d’Italia via television and the media.
Italy's tourism sector is expected to generate business worth around €89 billion euro in 2023 according to the Ansa news agency and a report by the Demoskopika market-research institute.
“The research shows what we always said: the Giro d’Italia is an international event that is able to generate huge revenue wherever it goes,” Urbano Cairo, the president of RCS Media Group, which owns the Giro d’Italia, said in an interview published alongside the Banca Ifis data.
“People who come to watch the Giro from the roadside spend significantly and then want to visit the areas where they’ve seen the race. The Giro attracts both cycling fans and the wider public.”
Banca Ifis also carried out a study of the Italian bike industry, calculating a turnover of €2 billion for 2022, a 10% increase, with a growth of 6% expected in 2023, with tourism and ebikes the key driving forces.
