Vasaloppet Week Attracts 66K Participants, Brings Record Amount of Money to Local Communities

… A couple of weeks ago we talked about financial success of the Engadin ski marathon , opining that the Swiss marathon’s money making capacity is second only to the Mother of all ski marathons, Vasaloppet.

Sure enough, the organizers of the Swedish multi-event did the math for 2017 and have announced that the Vasaloppet-2017 generated a turnover of SEK 234.6 million. ( EUR 24 million/USD 28 million) for the three municipalities involved in hosting a 90km race – an increase of almost 10% since 2015 when the last study was conducted ( to be clear, the Swiss report an even higher turnover – but they look at the broader economic effect, countrywide – while Swedish data considers only an impact on local communities)

Vasaloppet had long branched out into a whole range of skiing events to suit any taste and level of fitness, collectively known as Vasaloppet’s Winter Week

in 2017 the Week saw 66,582 registered participants – a whopping number, given that most of mass ski marathons are working hard to get over 5000 participants benchmark.

In addition, some 70,780 tourists came to watch and cheer.

Citizens of 62 different countries came to participate with ( clearly!) Norwegians dominating the field both in numbers and economic impact.

In a difference with the Engadin ski week, where a lion share of money goes towards lodging, Vasaloppet participants and guests spent relatively little on accommodation: some SEK 57.2 million or just over 5 million euros/dollars.

An author of the report, Swedish consumer research company Upplevelseinstitutet casually informs that most of the money, SEK 186.1 million, went towards “other consumption”. We just hope that notoriously expensive Swedish alcohol had nothing to do with that!

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Finally, Upplevelseinstitutet report says that additional SEK 30 million was spend by future marathon(s) participants on preparatory camps in the area. Not a bad pay day for trainers and other ski specialists.

Conclusion: when organized, promoted and broadcasted right ( Vasaloppet viewership ratings on SVT, Swedish public television are out of this world, over two million are watching the main race in the country of ten million) , ski marathons are making a hell of an economic impact on the communities that stage them.

PHOTO Courtesy of Vasaloppet