Running races are extremely profitable businesses for Budapest

According to vg.hu, the number of foreign participants in any of the 3 largest running races of Budapest (K&H Move, Wizz Air, SPAR Budapest Marathon) has increased by 15% and it was mainly the foreigners who spent more than 10 million euros (3 billion forints) in the capital during these events.

The 3 largest running races of Budapest attracted around 75,000 people in 2017 that broke all records and surpassed all expectations. According to previous estimations, the number of foreign participants has increased by 15%, the demand for accommodation has augmented by 10% this year, while the number of nights spent in the capital exceeded the magic number of 70,000, reported Árpád Kocsis, the Tournament Director of the Budapest Sports Office.

He further remarked that he himself was taken aback by how much potential lies in the 3 internationally recognised running competitions of Budapest. What is more, this potentiality further increases because not only the number of competitions escalates year by year, but that of the participants as well.

Running tourism, within the dynamically extending branches of tourism, produces outstanding results, and this year’s growth rate surpassed the average in almost all countries.

In addition to this, the year of 2017 is an immense milestone for Budapest as the sum of money spent on accommodation, food, registration fees for the competitors and their adherents surmounted the 10 million euros (3 billion forints).

According to a research conducted last year by KPMG, this means around 130 euros (40,000 forints) of expenditure on a daily basis and on average, 3.4 nights spent in hotels during the 2 half marathons. As for the SPAR marathon and its accompanying programmes, visitors spent approximately 455 euros (140,000 forints).

32nd Spar Budapest Marathon, Photo: MTI

Veol.hu reports that at the 32nd SPAR Budapest Marathon, visitors from 81 countries indicated their intent to participate.

Most foreigners came from Great-Britain, France, Italy and Germany, but visitors arrived from Slovakia and from Poland, too.

As far as Hungarians are concerned, they arrived from 1033 Hungarian townships and 60% of them had picked up their number a day before the competition. That also indicates that they spent at least 1 night in the capital or its neighbouring towns and most of them did not come alone, but with their family or friends.

The good reputation of Hungary is spreading by leaps and bounds within the circle of marathon and half marathon runners and this is thanks to the advertisement spread by the participants. A great example is a Brazil runner and blogger who was invited  to the competition by the organisers last year and who later expressed his delight of Budapest through several overjoyed posts. Presumably, this happening was what motivated 90 runners from Brazil to join the race this year. It is a huge advancement compared to the 10 Brazil participants last year and among the 90 recent runners 76 only flew to Europe to become part of this incredible event.

Budapest, 2017. október 15.
The participants of the  32. Spar Budapest Marathon running through the Szécsenyi Chain Bridge
MTI Fotó: Mónus Márton

Undoubtedly, this year brough an enormous success for Budapest: the 2-day-long marathon race and its accompanying smaller distance running events made it possible that individuals could cheer for each other in smaller distance races, too, which was not possible some years ago due to their parallel organisation.

Photos: mti.hu

Source: vg.hu ; veol.hu