Organizers of the World Youth Day 2011 held in Madrid reported that the international celebration helped boost their tourism industry.
“It is a widely known fact that World Youth Day (WYD) unites millions of young people from around the world on a pilgrimage to come into greater communion with the Church and meet the Pope. Yet beyond the experience of this remarkable meeting and the spiritual growth of pilgrims, WYD also benefits the host city and country,” organizers acted.
In a report published by the organizers, the event had an economic impact of about 354 million Euros in Spain.
“The study, carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), based its calculations on direct expenditures made by World Youth Day organizers and on independent and national accounting figures from the National Institute of Statistics. PwC confirms that foreigners spent about 147 million euros in Madrid. Lodging and employment were the sectors that gained the most from WYD. The event’s cost of 50 million euros was raised by the organization itself,” they reported.
According to the Archbishop of Madrid, 1.5 million people participated in the said World Youth Day. Of these, about 470,000 were foreigners from 189 nations including 5,000 accredited journalists. The archbishop added that 90 percent of participants went away from the event with a positive impression.
The event also strengthened the image of Spain as about 90 percednt of foreigners who attended the event said they wished to return in the future, based on survey. World Youth Day 2011 took place in Madrid last August 16-21, 2011. More than 500 young Filipino’s from the CBCP-ECY delegation attended the said WYD. (Jandel Posion)
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