Because Of You: Liverpool 2023's economic impact

In a first for any Eurovision Song Contest host city, a Multi-Agency Evaluation Steering Group led by Liverpool City Council, has commissioned five in-depth, independent evaluations of having the Contest come to town.

The reports looked at the economic and social impact of staging the event on behalf of Ukraine, as well as the influence on cultural relations; the impact on wellbeing in the city and the wider city region; the visitor experience and the effectiveness of the strategic collaboration between delivery agencies. 

Key data highlights include:

The Big Numbers

• Eurovision boosted the Liverpool City Region economy by £54.8million (net) with restaurants, accommodation providers, shops, bars and transport networks all benefitting.
• In total 473,000 people attended Eurovision events in the city, with 306,000 additional visitors heading to Liverpool to be part of the celebrations.
• In May, 175,000 city centre hotel rooms were sold  - the best month on record since 2018. (STEAM data)   

Culture Counts

• The education and community programmes, EuroStreet and EuroLearn, engaged with 367 organisations and directly with 50,000 people, young and old. The overall programme is estimated to have reached 2 million people.
• EuroFestival – the Culture Liverpool curated two-week culture festival – presented 24 brand new commissions, 19 of which were in collaboration with Ukrainian artists. A huge 328,346 people engaged with this programme – 557 artists, 1,750 participants involved in a commission and an audience number of 326,039.
• The official Eurovision Village, located at the Pier Head attracted 250,000 visitors across the ten days it was open, with the ticketed final selling out within hours.

Visitors' Views

• Visitors to Liverpool reported an overwhelmingly positive experience. In a survey, 89 per cent of those questioned, felt it was a safe event and 88 per cent praised its inclusivity. A whopping 96 per cent of those surveyed would recommend Liverpool as a destination to visit and 42 per cent of overseas visitors said the city’s staging of the event had a positive impact on how they viewed the UK.
• The official Eurovision Fan Club – the OGAEs – carried out a survey and found that 99 per cent of their members felt welcomed in the city and 98 per cent loved the undeniable festival atmosphere.

Residents' Reaction

• There was a huge amount of pride around Liverpool being the host city, with 80 per cent of residents noting how important it was for Liverpool and a further 93 per cent saying they were pleased with how the city delivered the event.
• Of those questioned, 74 per cent were enthusiastic about Liverpool hosting on behalf of Ukraine and 71 per cent felt that the city’s leading role promoted positive feelings across all of the participating nations.

People Power

• An impressive 475 people provided 12,000 hours of volunteering, covering 350 shifts. The majority (90 per cent) were from the North West of England, and 30 were Ukrainian.
• A Eurovision job recruitment fair saw 394 jobs offered in one day.
• A partnership between the BBC and Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts saw 145 students become part of the Eurovision production – in roles such as on stage dancers in the live shows, costume makers or in the TV production team.

Read All About It

• Between the period of October 2022, when Liverpool was announced as host city, until end of May 2023, more than 280,000 pieces of global news coverage were generated.
• The three live BBC shows were watched by 162 million people.

Keep Liverpool Tidy

• More than 50,000 tonnes of waste was collected throughout the Eurovision period, 80 per cent of which could be recycled.

The independent reports were:

• Economic Impact – Commissioned by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council. The research was compiled by AMION Consulting.
• Community and Wellbeing – Commissioned by Liverpool City Council and funded by Spirit of 2012 and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The research was carried out by University of Liverpool.
• Cultural Diplomacy – Commissioned by Liverpool City Council and funded by British Council and DCMS. The British Council led on the research along with the University of Hull, and consultants from Universities of Brighton, Southampton and Royal Holloway (University of London).
• Nightlife – Funded and compiled by Liverpool John Moores University.
• Multi–Agency Working – Led by Edge Hill University.  

Liverpool’s Director of Culture, Claire McColgan CBE, said:

“Quite simply, it was an honour to deliver Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine and the UK. I’ve never known time move so fast as it did across those seven months and it has been a real pleasure to digest these impact reports and relive the experience once again and reassure myself it wasn’t just a crazy dream! They underline the fact Liverpool has the skill, agency-wide teamwork and the creativity to deliver time and time again.

So I’d like to say to everyone - whether you worked on the event, donned those iconic yellow hoodies and volunteered, performed on stage or on our streets, danced at the Village, sang along at the arena or perhaps you discovered more about Ukraine in the classroom or even helped evaluate the event – thank you. You made Eurovision. Liverpool made Eurovision. We were all united by music.”

Jean Philip De Tender, Deputy Director General of the EBU, said:

"This year’s Eurovision Song Contest, as we know, was held in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine who could not stage the Contest. The way the BBC and this city embraced this task with was truly remarkable.

From the celebration of Ukrainian culture around the city and on screen to the warmest welcome imaginable – both Liverpool and the BBC excelled not only in its display of solidarity but its creativity in producing one of the most, if not the most, memorable Eurovision Song Contest in our 67-year history.

The hard work and investment from all stakeholders over the past 12 months was born out in the huge impact the event had internationally – both on TV, musically and the engagement of literally hundreds of millions around the world online. The international reach of the Eurovision Song Contest is truly unparalleled."

The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden on Tuesday 7 May (First Semi-Final), Thursday 9 May (Second Semi-Final) and Saturday 11 May (Grand Final) 2024.

Listen to all 37 songs from Liverpool 2023 via your favourite streaming services, and watch the official music videos on our YouTube channel:

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