According to recent calculations, the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest will bring in a gross revenue of over 38 million euros – of which 27.8 million euros will go to the city of Vienna alone! In addition to this, the federal capital of Austria will see 416 new jobs created as a result of hosting the grand spectacle.

Last Thursday, Wien Holding – the city’s corporate group of service providers – held a discussion in the Wiener Stadthalle on the economic impact the event will have on the city’s budget. The study on the profit findings was conducted by the independent research body – Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) in Vienna – which also took part in the business talk. “This study provides us with high revenue figures,” said Peter Hanke – CEO of Wien Holding. “The results of the study show us that it is worth to host the Eurovision Song Contest. The added and high advertising value will let the city’s investments roll back right into the municipal treasury more than threefold,” he added.

The advertising value of the event is estimated to be at 100 million euros. Additionally, it is expected that around 16 million euros will come from tax revenues, of which 6.2 million euros will go straight into the federal treasury, the nation’s social security fund will receive 5.9 million euros, the City of Vienna about 0.9, other federal states approximately 1.6, and the communities will make a gross profit of 0.9 million euros.

According to the IHS study, the event could create up to 562 temporary positions, of which 416 will be in Vienna alone! Most of these would be generated in the hotel and restaurant sectors, the arts and entertainment services, but also in broadcasting, advertising and market research.

Vienna is also expected to have around 30,000 overnight stays during the month of May. The Viennese Tourism Director, Norbert Kettner, expressed a warning to the hotel industry that they should keep their prices reasonable and not to “infect themselves with a gold-digger syndrome.” Kettner also said: “The Eurovision Song Contest will put Vienna on a ‘global stage,’ where two of the city’s biggest assets, namely music and hospitality, will be brought together.” Christian Oxonitsch, the councillor for Education, Youth, Information and Sports of the City of Vienna, added that “the music event will allow Vienna to present itself to the world as a cosmopolitan and tolerant city and the hospitality industry should pass on a positive image in that regard.”

Some 1,700 journalists will report on the Eurovision Song Contest and nearly 200 million viewers will follow the television broadcasts from Vienna. “We have the opportunity to present ourselves internationally. We could never achieve this with normal marketing means,” said Kurt Gollowitzer, Managing Director of Wiener Stadthalle.

For both Austrian national broadcaster ORF, and the Wiener Stadthalle, the Eurovision Song Contest will be a “once in a lifetime event.” “Each hall will be utilised, and every space will be used,” said Peter Hanke. Of the 11.7 million euros which Vienna is putting into the event, 8.89 million will go to the account of the Wiener Stadthalle alone, for amongst other things, letting the grounds, labour and energy costs, and the disengagement costs. Fortunately, no previously booked event had to be cancelled, as it was possible to schedule them before and after the biggest music spectacle, said Gollowitzer.