On Saturday the Champions League campaign came to end, with Liverpool defeating Tottenham 2-0 in a thrilling all-English encounter at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid. However, the Reds were not the only winner of the most prestigious football competition in Europe. The English side had to share the triumph with Madrid’s tourism, as the final of the competition created a boom in terms of arrivals in the Spanish capital.
In total, 100 thousand people were expected to have travelled to Madrid for the weekend just to see the game. This triggered the level of bookings above 90% and increased the price of hotels by 200%, as per official data from the Hotelier Association of Madrid (AEHM).
The lowest price for which one could have slept in Madrid during the weekend – sharing a room with more people – was 160 euros. The prices of a bed in an accommodation facility of this type, a hostel, for example, had tripled for the Champions League weekend. Sleeping here during any other week would cost visitors just 53 euros per night.
Despite the high prices, hotel occupancy rates reached 95% on Wednesday last week. Apartments were also a viable option, with only 32% of Airbnb apartments in the entire community close to the stadium available last week.
The owners of tourist apartments were hunting successfully for British football fans. Out of the 306 apartments offered on Airbnb, 31% included the Champions League final, UCL final or Wanda Metropolitano in the description of their property.
Regarding the tickets, food, drink and accommodation facilities, Liverpool and Tottenham fans were predicted to spend about 125 million euros during the Champions League final. The overall economic impact, according to estimates, was expected to reach 62.5 million euros. To this, we must add the advertising impact of the city and the opportunity to show off in front of more than 350 million TV viewers around the world.
As recognized by the General Secretary of AEHM, Mar de Miguel, before the event, the Champions League final “is undoubtedly a great opportunity to promote the image of the city, in addition to “enhancing the recruitment of a quality traveler who helps to energize the economy of Madrid”.
Without a doubt, the football festival was enormously beneficial for Madrid as a tourist destination. The hoteliers and owners of apartments, restaurants and other facilities have already noticed it in their sky-rocketed incomes.