Visa Report Predicts Big 2012 Spend
The UK is set to benefit from a £750m consumer spending boost in the seven week period of next year’s London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the biggest ever consumer spend increase expected for a host market, according to a report released by Visa Europe.
The report has been released to mark the 25th anniversary of Visa’s global sponsorship of the Olympic Games, and this record breaking spending boost will deliver a sustained stimulus worth a total of £5.1bn to the UK economy by 2015.
The report: ‘A Golden Opportunity – London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Expenditure and Economic Impact’, found that during the intense three week period between the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games, the economy will receive a £621m spending boost.
This will be supplemented by a further £129m spending boost during the Paralympic Games, taking the total spend increase to £750m over the entire seven weeks, an uplift of 18.5% above what would be expected over the same period had the Games not taken place.
The report, draws on historical Visa cardholder spending data from the Turin 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, 2010 FIFA World Cup as well as a detailed review of other existing economic data from previous Olympic and Paralympic Games.
These data sources have enabled the development of an econometric model which projects the effect the London 2012 Games will have on consumer spending.
The report is solely focused on expected spending levels among both overseas visitors and UK residents.
It does not quantify additional benefits to the economy such as stimulus to the construction sector and long term benefits of improved infrastructure, therefore it provides unique insight into how consumer spending alone will impact the economy.
The positive impact to the economy will be largely generated by a major influx of foreign visitors to the UK – over the seven week Olympic Games period international visitors are expected to spend a total of £709m – higher than previous Games, with international expenditure at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 approximately half that figure.
Marc O’Brien, managing director, Visa UK said: ‘As the report shows, the UK will benefit from an immediate positive economic impact as a result of a large increase in consumer spending during the Olympic and Paralympic Games’.
‘Much like the World Cup, British consumers are expected to boost supermarket sales by £80 million as Britain lives up to its reputation as a nation of sport lovers, meaning for the first time domestic spend is forecast to grow during a Games, previously unheard of for a host market’.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson added: ‘I am determined that hosting The Games in 2012 will transform the wider job prospects and economic future for Londoners – this is already happening, and we can and must sustain that effect for years to come’.
‘This report shows we are on track to do just that, with The Games set to inject billions of pounds and thousands of jobs into the London economy even after the greatest show on earth has left town’.
‘I have no doubt that when we welcome the world to London during the summer of 2012, the capital’s first class attractions, shops, pubs and hotels will all see a massive boost as a direct result of The Games’.
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