Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.15
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
Azerbaijan gets $277 million in revenue from the Formula 1 races, reads a report issued by “PricewaterhouseCoopers” (PwC).
The report reads that the Formula 1 races in Baku had a considerable positive impact on the country's economy.
The report, prepared by PwC on behalf of BCC, is a quantitative evaluation of the economic impact that hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix in Baku has had on the city since the inaugural race weekend took place here in June 2016.
The final figure of $277.3m is a combination of the direct and indirect results of operational spending linked to the arrival of F1 in Baku, taking into account the spend across various sectors including the professional services, hotels and general accommodation, catering, transport, social and cultural services, agriculture, post and telecommunications, wholesale trade and electricity, gas and water amongst others.
The biggest beneficiary of this direct spend - defined in the report as the change in sales in those industries directly engaged in providing goods and services to F1 guests and participants (e.g., hotels, restaurants, transportation services, etc.) and most directly associated with spending carried out by visiting guests and participants of the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe (2016) and Azerbaijan Grand Prix (2017) - was the tourism industry which has seen an impact of $22.7m over the course of the two Grands Prix to have taken place in Baku to date.
The 2018 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix will take place on April 27-29.
Meanwhile, Commercial Director of Baku City Circuit Bulent Ozerdim said that tickets sold to foreign countries account for 75 percent of total ticket sales for today, with four-day access tickets being the most popular.