The economic impacts of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest
Drawing comparisons to the bidding process of the Summer and Winter Olympics again, the EBU takes a not too dissimilar approach with its final selection. Both the EBU and IOC focus on the importance of financial sustainability for a potential host city with regards to infrastructure and venues. Most successful bids come from those that can prove they need the least amount of funding to make the hosting viable.
For Eurovision that means enticing the EBU with a venue that meets the specifications with little renovation and already having good transport and accommodation infrastructure in place. As well as the potential in the winning city to hold support events in available spaces without needing to build projects from scratch. Unlike the Winter and Summer Olympics that have years to prepare; a Eurovision host city typically has only eight months to be ready in time for rehearsals. Due to the nature of the contest giving automatic hosting rights to the winning broadcaster.
Thus, the onus of financial responsibility falls on the host broadcaster. In the modern era of Eurovision, broadcaster participation fees are nowhere near enough. Today, funding relies heavily on commercial sponsorship, government funding and ticket sales. Much like other large events such as the Olympics and FIFA World Cup.
A study by the University of Tennessee examined the financial impacts of hosting Eurovision and found that it increases tourism receipts by 8% over the course of three years. Below are the breakdowns of visitor footfall and revenue generated for the three most recent Eurovision hosts.
Liverpool
- 306,000 visitors to the city.
- 473,000 attendees to Eurovision-related shows.
- 175,000 hotel rooms sold – the city’s best month since 2018.
- £55 million (66 million euros) boost to the local economy.
- 18 million euros boost to the wider Greater Metropolitan Area.
- Eurovision 2023 guests returned in 2024 for further trips. An additional 72,454 trips resulted in a boost of £11.1 million (13 million euros).
- Total economic impact exceeding £65.9 million.
Malmö
- 300 stakeholders from the local community.
- 159,680 visitors to the three main venues: Malmö Arena, Malmö Live, and Eurovision Village.
- 71,737 overnight stays.
- 51,430 unique visitors.
- 445 million SEK (48.5 million euros) in tourism-related revenue.
- 378.1 million SEK (32 million euros) of the above benefited Greater Malmö, 2.7 million SEK (200k euros to surrounding municipalities.
- Copenhagen generated 64.2 million SEK (5.5 million euros) due to its proximity and hosting of support events across the bridge.
- 3.98 million SEK in Malmö Live ticket revenue.
Basel
- 95%+ hotel occupancy.
- 50,000+ overnight stays.
- 500,000+ Eurovision event-related visitors.
- 350 local businesses were involved in the Friends of Eurovision scheme.
- Total economic impact of 60 million CHF (64.2 million euros).
Therefore the opportunity to host Eurovision is an exciting one from an economic standpoint. Although it requires careful planning and project management at all levels to ensure costs do not spiral out of control. Most budgets typically land in the region of 20-25 million euros. Rising inflation and additional security costs have seen this figure increase. However, Stockholm in 2016 managed with a modest budget of 11.5 million euros and Liverpool’s budget was in the region of 16 million euros. Demonstrating that a cost effective hosting is possible as long as the infrastructure is in place.
Over the last 10 editions, only the Lisbon hosting in 2018 has officially failed to return a profit. The economic impact data for Kyiv and Tel Aviv is unclear. So what does this tell us about the choice of host cities and the future of Eurovision’s mission to be a sustainable event?
