According to a study by the Universidade do Algarve, there was an increase of €10.9 million compared to the previous year, representing a growth of 7.1 percent.

As maintained by the data released by the Automóvel Club de Portugal (ACP), the expenditure generated in the rally, which came from fans (residents and visitors), teams and organisations, amounted to €86.8 million, 14 percent more than in 2022.

More than half of this value (50.5 percent) came from foreign teams and fans, whose spending contributes to an event which is “unparalleled in the national territory in terms of export promotion”, identified experts from the Centro de Investigação, Desenvolvimento e Inovação em Turismo (CiTUR) da Universidade do Algarve.

Direct tax revenue on consumption during The Portugal Rally also increased to unprecedented values since 2007, exceeding €21.7 million in VAT and ISP, 19 percent more compared to 2022.

Over the four days of the race, the fifth round of the World Championship, around one million spectators watched the rally live, of which more than 267 thousand were from Spain and France, the countries which stood out in terms of foreign visitors, among others such as Estonia, the United Kingdom, Finland, Ireland, Belgium or Slovakia.

Foreign visitors on average spent three nights in Portugal, an increase compared to 2022 (average of 2.75 nights), a value which represents almost double the average of tourist overnight stays in the north and central regions of the country at that time of year. More than 38 percent of foreign visitors visited those regions for the first time.

Regarding media, the 2023 edition of The Portugal Rally reached unprecedented records in terms of exposure and the reach of its digital platforms.

“With more than a thousand hours of television broadcast in 110 countries on five continents, the rally’s broadcast time increased by 14.8 percent compared to the previous year, contributing to more than €77.9 million in monetary value in the media”, explained the study.

Since 2007, the year in which scientific analysis of the event began by the Universidade do Algarve, the contribution of The Portugal Rally to the national economy amounts to €1,728.6 million.