Cycling/2021 Road World Championships: €27.4m in gross added value for the Flanders region (UCI)

"Host cities Knokke-Heist, Bruges, Antwerp and Leuven (BEL) welcomed 1 million unique visitors during the UCI Road World Championships week, including over 100,000 foreign visitors. Fans stayed in Flanders for an average of 4.5 days, spent a combined total of just under €36m during their stay (on mainly accommodation, meals and transport) and delivered a gross added value of €27.4m to the Flemish economy," according to the UCI on 17/02/2022, based on a report on the economic impact of the event (available to download) produced by EY (Ernst & Young Global Limited).

"The effect on the image of Flanders as a tourist destination is many times greater thanks to the enormous worldwide media attention that the 2021 UCI Road World Championships attracted. 208 million TV viewers in 113 countries, and tens of millions of viewers via the social media platforms did not just get to watch the cycling footage but also the stunning images of the historic art cities and the Flemish coast," explained UCI, which also relied on the firm Deloitte for the sustainability part of the report.

"Direct and…