XX Commonwealth Games Visitor Study: Economic Impact Report

Executive Summary

Introduction

• This report provides an analysis of the economic impact of expenditure by all visitor groups namely:
  • Event Visitors - the 690,000 unique visitors to the Games i.e. the Glasgow 2014 sports events, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and Festival 2014 events, including the Merchant City Festival
  • Games Volunteers - the 12,467 people who volunteered as Clyde-siders at Glasgow 2014 sports events and the ceremonies
  • Media personnel who attended the Games
• Impacts are assessed at four geographical levels: Glasgow, Clyde Valley (excluding Glasgow), Glasgow and the Clyde Valley and Scotland^[1].
• Impacts are provided for:
  • the Games i.e. Glasgow 2014 and Festival 2014 events
  • Glasgow 2014 sporting events and the official Opening and closing Ceremonies
  • Festival 2014 cultural events and activities
  • Merchant City Festival (MCF), which is part of the overall Festival 2014
• Ticket spending is excluded from the analysis in this report, as the impact of spending on tickets is included in separate analysis of the impact of the activities of the Games organisers, Glasgow 2014 Ltd.

Expenditure

• Total expenditure by event visitors (excluding spend on Games tickets) was £176 million^[2].
• Total expenditure by Games Clyde-sider volunteers was £5.6 million.
• Total expenditure by media personnel was £4.1 million.
• Therefore, total spend by all visitor groups to the Games is estimated at £186 million.

Economic Impact

• The economic impact of the Games, Festival 2014 and Merchant City Festival has been measured in terms of the gross impact and the net impact.

Gross Impact

• The gross impact is the effect of the spending (£186 million) by all visitor groups.
• Taking account of direct, indirect and induced effects, the spending of all visitors groups to the Games supported, in gross terms:
  • the equivalent of 3,575 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in 2014 and contributed £124 million (as measured by Gross Value Added or GVA) in that year to the Scottish economy^[3]
  • the equivalent of 2,075 jobs in 2014 and contributed £63 million of GVA in that year to the Glasgow economy
  • the equivalent of 2,366 jobs in 2014 and contributed £76 million of GVA in 2014 to the economy of Glasgow and the Clyde Valley
  • the equivalent of 1,209 jobs in 2014 and contributed £48 million of GVA in 2014 to the economy of the rest of Scotland (outside Glasgow and the Clyde Valley)
• Within the overall Games (Glasgow 2014 and Festival 2014) gross impacts, further key findings include:
  • spending from the visitor groups at Glasgow 2014 events supported the equivalent of 3,049 jobs in 2014 and contributed £106 million of GVA in that year to the Scottish economy
  • spending from the visitor groups at Festival 2014 events supported the equivalent of 1,435 jobs in 2014 and contributed £44 million of GVA in that year to the Glasgow economy
  • spending from the visitor groups at the Merchant City Festival supported the equivalent of 1,062 jobs in 2014 and contributed £32 million of GVA in that year to the Glasgow economy

Net Impact

• The net impact adjusts the gross estimates to allow for the fact that:
  • most Games-related spending by local residents was money which would have been spent locally in any case - known as displacement
  • some visitors would have visited Glasgow and Scotland even if the Games had not been held, meaning their spend is not additional - known as deadweight
• After adjustment for displacement and deadweight the net (additional non-displaced) impact of all visitor groups spending at the Games is estimated to have supported, in net terms:
  • the equivalent of 2,138 jobs in 2014 and contributed £73 million of GVA in that year to the Scottish economy
  • the equivalent of 1,227 jobs in 2014 and contributed £37 million of GVA in that year to the Glasgow economy
  • the equivalent of 1,432 jobs in 2014 and contributed £46 million of GVA in 2014 to the Glasgow and Clyde Valley economy
  • the equivalent of 836 jobs in 2014 and contributed £32 million of GVA in 2014 to the economy of the rest of Scotland (outside Glasgow and the Clyde Valley)
• Within the overall Games (Glasgow 2014 and Festival 2014) net impacts, further key findings include:
  • spending from the visitor groups at Glasgow 2014 events supported the equivalent of 2,065 jobs in 2014 and contributed £71 million of GVA in that year to the Scottish economy
  • spending from the visitor groups at Festival 2014 events supported the equivalent of 324 jobs in 2014 and contributed £10 million of GVA in that year to the Glasgow economy
  • spending from the visitor groups at Merchant City Festival events supported the equivalent of 249 jobs in 2014 and contributed £7 million of GVA in that year to the Glasgow economy