16/05/2007
Positive financial impact of the RallyRACC in Tarragona

In 2006, 182,443 followed the RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA (held in March), live. Half of them spent at least one night in the area, an aspect that is well known by the hotel and restaurant businesses of the Costa Daurada, who have declared, that the rally has a positive financial impact on their activity. Last year's rally generated a net amount of more than 37 million euros, including not only the direct expenses of the spectators attending the race but also of teams and professionals participating and informing about the event.

In order to determine the direct and indirect impact of the RallyRACC on the economy of the area of Tarragona that is hosting the complete rally for the third year in a row, the RACC carried out a survey on site through a consultant company to know the opinion of spectators (832), manufacturers (26) and media (22), and contacted 50 accommodation owners in Tarragona, as well as 60 shop owners and 126 restaurant and bar owners (representing the 32% of the total of local business owners of each branch). As a conclusion of the attending spectators, it was possible to make the following statements: Almost 83% of the spectators following the race, does not only travel to the stages, but also to the Service Park and Salou, while 17% do not go to the stages. The average profile of these spectators are young males, aged between 18 and 35 years, with secondary education and wage earners. Most of the people attending the race live in Catalonia but there are also many people from other Spanish regions such as Valencia, the Basque Country and Cantabria. They are all driven by the passion for motor sports and, although 33.2% of those polled spend a whole day following the race, almost 98% stay in the area for more than one day (33.6% at least three days).

Loyalty of spectators

Compared to the last two editions, it is worth mentioning that the number of people attending the event for the first time, driven by the relevance of having an event of the World Championship so nearby and the positive comments of friends is clearly increasing. This fact consolidates the development of the event and the development for the futures since the number of spectators who comeback after their first visit increases edition after edition (of the total number of spectators polled 27.7% declared that it was their first time at the rally and paradoxically the same percentage declared that they had already experienced the rally live on 5 or more occasions). 82.2% of the attendants considered the location of the round as very positive, 50.4% of which declared that the highlight of the rally were the spectacular stages.

Accommodation and maintenance, the main income source

In the face of the third exclusive visit of the rally to the Costa Daurada, businessmen of the area have declared their increasing satisfaction given the direct benefit for their premises. The strongest supporters of the event in the area are hotelkeepers, 82% of which value the rally as something very positive. 50% of them declared to have enjoyed an occupation of between 75% and 100% during the event. Spectators and teams are the main income sources for this business sector and for restaurants. Maintenance and accommodation top the survey, although the euros spent in leisure and fuel are also worth mentioning. The dissemination of a world level event attracts also a lot of national and international press representatives. In 2006 the rally was the main feature of 147 information on television, i.e. 14 broadcast hours, generating a total of more than 56 million impacts, of which the business sector in Tarragona was able to benefit as well.

Almost half of the public uses movistar

In addition of being the official sponsor of the 43 edition of the RallyRACC for more than ten years, the research on which the report is based, states that among the public attending the rally the company with more customers is movistar (48.5%), followed by Vodafone and Amena. The sms and mms alert systems or having real time information available are the most valued aspects.