By Tom Degun

2011 UCI_Road_World_Championships_copenhagen_11-01-12January 11 - The 2011 UCI Road World Championships in Copenhagen have proved a major economic success for Denmark after a report showed that approximately €31.2 million (£25.7 million/$39.6 million) was generated by the event in terms of tourism economic turnover.


The report, compiled by Sport Event Denmark, showed that 76 per cent of the total tourism economic turnover came from international tourists meaning that visitors to the Danish capital for the competition generated €23.7 million (£19.6 million/$30.1 million) for the country's economy.

The event, the highlight of which was Britain's Mark Cavendish winning the men's road race, also proved a huge success in terms of branding and for promoting Danish cycling sport with a total live audience of 545,000 spectators viewing the six days of cycling.

Approximately 40 per cent of the spectators were tourists and the majority of them were 25-years-old or younger.

Around 118,000 hotel rooms were occupied due to the Championships, while the derived effects generated by the event amounts to 262 fulltime jobs.

"The UCI Road World Championships were a great success not only in relation to the event management but also in relation to the secondary effects," said Sport Event Denmark chief executive Lars Lundov.

"A total tourism economic turnover of approximately €31.2 million (£25.7 million/$39.6 million) was generated by the Championships, €23.7 million from international tourists.

"That is indeed growth-enhancing foreign-exchange earnings for Denmark.

"We have also gained important input and experiences that we will reuse in future major international sports events."

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The report claims that the number of spectators and amount of money generated far exceeded the anticipated numbers, while Tom Lund, President of the Danish Cycling Federation and chairman of the UCI Bike City Copenhagen, admitted that the results are an extra boost after a fantastic World Championships.

"The UCI Road World Championships were the latest in a long list of world class cycling events in Denmark included in the UCI Bike City project," he said.

"We are proud that the UCI chose us as the leading first ever Bike City and we are even more proud of the way we set up the event and the positive economical turnover for Denmark.

"Denmark has positioned itself as a great cycling nation."

Jesper Worre, managing director of the Danish Cycling Union (DCU) and event manager of the UCI Road World Championships 2011, added that the event could not have gone any better for Copenhagen or for Denmark.

"The UCI Road World Championships turned out to be all we dreamt of," he said

"Sports wise we had a perfect set-up and in terms of event organisation we have only received compliments.

"We managed to set new standards for sports events in Denmark and a total tourism economic turnover of approximately €31.2 million is more than satisfactory."

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