United Kingdom: football brings in £684m (€935m) in tourism revenue to Britain in 2014

Football contributed £684m (about €935m as of 11/09/2015) in overseas-tourism revenue in the United Kingdom, according to a study released by VisitBritain on 10/09/2015. The research report, entitled “Football tourism scores for Britain”, analysed the activities of the 800,000 international visitors to the UK in 2014 who attended a live football game.

"There are 1.2 billion people across the globe who are fans of the League and we want to engage with as many of them as possible. There is something special about being part of the live action on a match day and it’s very encouraging to see more visitors coming to Britain wanting to experience the Premier League," said Richard Scudamore, the Premier League's executive chairman.

According to the study, tourists going to a match spent one-third more on average than those who did not, with those who watched a match spending £855 (€1170) on average, compared to £636 (€870) spent by those who did not watch a game. Almost three-quarters of those surveyed for the study said “watching sport” was the principal reason for their visit.

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