Andorra continues in the race to aspire to become the host venue for the World Alpine Ski Championships 2029. The celebration of the event in the Pyreneen country could amount to an increase in GDP of 1%, which currently would amount to between 30 and 35 million euros. This calculation is based on a conservative estimate of 100,000 being the expected number of visitors attending the event over the 15 days of the competition and expecting a per person expenditure that has a directly impact in the country of 300 euros. This was explained this afternoon by Jordi Alcobé, mayor of Canillo, during the presentation to the General Council's Legislative Committees on Education, Research, Culture, Youth and Sports and Economy. Together with David Hidalgo, Director General of the candidacy for the World Championships, they gave a presentation of the project focused on the economic and mediatic impact of the sports event. Prior to this presentation, the Síndic General, Carles Ensenyat, and the Deputy Síndic General, Sandra Codina demonstrated their interest and commitment to the project and welcomed the Andorra 2029 candidacy team to their offices.

The World Championships would be financed with revenues in the region of 48 million euros from the FIS that come from marketing and television rights, ticket and merchandising sales. This is a “zero cost” budget that will allow the organising of an event that will generate a spectacular economic impact, according to Alcobé.  Looking at the size of the event in terms of media return and using consolidated figures from the previous editions of the event in Courchevel Méribel (2022) and Cortina d’Ampezzo (2021), the ski world championships would have a televisual impact of more than 10 times that generated in the World Cup Finals that were held in Andorra last year, putting the number of TV viewers at 500 million and 36.5 million, respectively. In fact, the in situ media presence would also be considerably increased, given that more than double the number of media professionals would be in attendance to cover the sporting event (+1,000). All of the other indicators that would give more dimension to the organisation would multiply such as the overnight stays that would increase to 50,000, the participating athletes (700) from more than 70 countries, or in the field of Human Resources with more staff and volunteers (a maximum forecast of 700).

With us only five months away from the big date when the decision is announced, which could signify a before and after moment for the Pyrenees, the technical committee is currently busy working on numerous communication and marketing activities. At the same time, the Andorran Ski Federation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are working on the institutional “lobbying” relations with the aim of swaying the balance of votes in Andorra’s favour. The FIS Council members will vote in Reykjavík (Iceland) on the 4th of June during the International Ski Federation (FIS) Annual Congress. The Principality comes up against Narvik (Norway) and Val Gardena (Italy).

Comparison between the World Cup Finals and the World Championships

• 1 week vs 2 weeks

• 9 races vs 13 races + heats

• 150 athletes vs 700

• 25 countries vs 70+

• 350 volunteers vs up to 700

• 450 media professionals vs 1,000+

• 5,000 hotel overnight stays vs 50,000+

• 36.5 million viewers vs 500 million

• 4.5 million euros operating budget vs 48 million euros