“Having such an important contribution in TV rights and sponsorship gives confidence to be able to design an event in all its magnitude”
MADRID, 27 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The general director of Grandvalira-ENSISA, David Hidalgo, has assured that the “significant” economic injection foreseen in television rights and sponsorship gives them “confidence” to organize the Alpine Skiing World Championships in 2027, for which they present their candidacy against the Swiss Crans-Montana, the German Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Norwegian Narvik and in which they could receive up to “10,000 spectators” a day with a hotel occupancy “of 100%”.
“We have evolved from having illusions to having options. What people are going to vote for is much more than a candidacy dossier. They must assess who has been the organizer before, what will there be for change and innovation, what ideas for the globalization of competitive skiing has the Federation… And this is where I think we have fit in very well”, he declared in an interview with Europa Press.
Regarding the financing of the event, Hidalgo explained that the television and sponsorship rights represent “the main part of the budget picture.” “The fact of having such an important contribution in television rights and sponsorship gives you the confidence to be able to design an event in all its magnitude. The competitiveness of Andorra with respect to other candidates means that, with the same income, we can go much further wide; the difference in operating costs from a venue like ours to one like Switzerland is almost one to three,” he said, also stating that ticketing revenues will go largely to “social and solidarity actions,” he said. .
Regarding the budget, divided between investments and operating budget, he stressed that Grandvalira “does not need a large amount of investment”, since Andorra “has already done its homework” in sports infrastructure.
“The only thing that is needed are minor adjustments compared to what is the usual rate of investment in a station like ours. Perhaps some arrival area or the security of a track needs to be improved, but it is nothing relevant,” he said.
Meanwhile, the operating budget moves around “40 million euros”. “An important part is the accommodation. It will be necessary to manage almost fifty-five thousand hotel nights during the 15 days. Then, there is an important part in reference to the ski festival, that is, entertainment, another of the pillars of the candidacy; We are not only talking about competitions and ski races, but about a bigger event, with a lot of parallel events, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies”, he explained.
Within that, they will pay special attention to “logistics and transport”, with the idea of replacing “the private vehicle with public transport”. “Our bet is to avoid the private car. We are going to have to greatly reinforce the public transport infrastructure. We will also have a long list of operating expenses based on temporary installations, such as the installation of stands or the conditioning of the press center, which will be They carry an important part of the budget. And there is the part of the volunteers or the food, “he added.
“We have calculated how many buses are going to be needed, at what time and where. We have reached a level of detail that makes us optimistic about temporarily changing mobility habits, and I hope that these habits remain as a legacy,” he said. .
Hidalgo also stressed the positive economic impact that the event will have for Andorra and the Pyrenees, although it is difficult to measure in figures due to the absence of “a standard methodology”. “Events have a double impact, one direct, during those fifteen days, and another in the long term. The first is measured by estimating the expenditure that attendees make on average. The long-term effect is more complicated to measure because it does not it ends on the day of the Closing Ceremony, but you have to keep measuring it for years to come,” he said.
“Our intention is that for each of the thirteen races there are between five thousand seated spectators plus five thousand standing, about 10,000; you are talking about 130,000-150,000 spectators throughout the fifteen days,” he continued. “We have been in a pandemic for two years and the last World Cups are not illustrative. Starting with the 2023 Courchevel Méribel World Cups, we will make a finer adjustment and see if our forecast of 5,000 seated spectators falls short or needs to be expanded,” he stressed.
In this sense, he pointed out that it will be important to know what effect the appointment will have on “international markets”, ensuring that the “first ring of proximity” continues to be Spain and France. “There is a second very important ring for us, which is mainly Scandinavia, Benelux, and for some time, Germany and Italy, which are two source markets in which we aspire to grow. In the third ring would be more distant markets such as the North America, Eastern Europe, mainly Poland,” he warned.
It also estimates a hotel occupancy of “100%” because the World Cups are held “in high season.” “What we already anticipate is a certain substitution of clientele, that is to say, that some of the regular clients who may not be fans of competitive skiing in those two weeks do not come, but that they are replaced by both the client who follows the most and the sports family,” he said.
Lastly, Hidalgo explained that the situation in Andorra and the “Andorran tourism product” give them “a very large competitive advantage” over the other candidates. “When you propose a long tourist ski stay, from 4 or 5 days, you not only give importance to the ski area, but also to everything that is around. Our candidacy is not the candidacy of a station, it is not the candidacy of a region or a parish, but the candidacy of a country,” he said.
“We are a country at the foot of the slopes, with 80,000 inhabitants and eight million visitors each year, and we have both the structure and the knowledge to welcome thousands of people for days. This is the great differentiating factor. You have theater, cinema, music , gastronomy, culture… The tourist range is really complete. There are many things to do in Andorra and that is the ideal complement for a candidacy like ours”, he concluded.