Valencia Marathon shows five-fold multiplier for city income

The event, held on December 3 last year, left a tourist expenditure of 31.3 million euro (35m USD) in the city of Valencia and its surroundings, which represents an increase of 9.8% in real terms compared to the 2022 edition.

According to the Economic Impact Report of the race, drafted by the Ivie (Valencian Institute of Economic Research), the organisation invested 6.2 million EUR in the celebration of the 43th edition, 1% more in real terms than the previous year. This means that for every euro spent on the organisation, five euro of tourist income has been generated by participants from outside the region and their families.

The high number of foreign runners, which grew by 29% over the 2022 edition and already represents 57% of the total, is one of the causes of the increase in tourism income, because their stay in the city is longer and their average daily expenditure is higher. In 2023, the number of foreign runners reached 18,540 people, whose average individual expenditure amounted to 157.4 EUR per day, as opposed to 122.3 EUR for national runners.

However, tourism income is not the only economic impact left by the Valencia Marathon. The 37.5 million EUR that make up the expense associated with the organisation and the expenditure made by the participants and their companions generate a total impact on the turnover of the companies of the Valencian economy of 67.6 million EUR. This translates into a real impact on Valencian income (GDP, i.e. salaries and profits of companies) that reached 19.9 million EUR in 2023, 7.4% more in real terms than in 2022.

There has also been an increase in the impact on employment, since the activity generated by the 2023 Valencia Marathon allowed to maintain the equivalent of 600 full-time jobs per year, which represents an increase of 5.1% compared to the 2022 edition. This bandwagon effect has been expanding and, in the last decade (specifically since 2011), the impacts of the Marathon in the province of Valencia have multiplied by 9 in real terms, in the case of income generated, and almost by 12 regarding employment.

The services sector is the one that is most benefited by the economic impact generated by the Marathon, concentrating between 87% and 90% in terms of both income and employment. In particular, the sectors that have benefited the most from the celebration of the event are the hospitality industry, local commerce, real estate activities and business services, and other services and social activities (including cultural, recreational and sports services).

The Ivie report, prepared by the Institute’s deputy director, Joaquin Maudos, and economist Eva Benages, updates the analysis of the fiscal impact of the Marathon that was included in the previous edition as a novelty. According to the data of the new report, the event contributed 10.6 million EUR to the public coffers through revenue collection, via taxes and social contributions, generated by the expenses of the organisation and of the participants and their companions. This figure is 10.6 % higher in real terms than in 2022 and means that, for every euro spent in the organisation, 1.7 EUR are generated in tax collection.

Of these 10.6 million in revenues for the public administrations, 9.1% are taxes borne and/or collected directly by the organising committee of the event, while the remaining amount is indirectly generated by this initial expense and by the expense of the runners and their companions.

According to Joaquin Maudos, director of the studio: “The Valencia Marathon continues to break records year after year. In its last edition, the number of runners increased by 17%, foreigners already account for 57% of the total, the impact on income is 7.4% higher in real terms, and the impact on employment has increased by 5.1%. These are figures that set the bar very high for the 2024 edition.”

The full report in Spanish can be found at https://www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com/revistas/43-MVTA-2023-ivie/2/