German Car Zone

MARCH 26, 2008
Bahrain GP claims half a billion boom


A report by the Godo Research & Marketing Consultancy in Dubai, commissioned by the Bahrain Grand Prix, suggests that the economic impact of the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on the local economy was $548m. This figure is believed to include air fares, hotels, and expenditure while the visitors were in the country. The report said that there were 22,500 overseas visitors, mainly from the Middle East and they were spending an average of $1,356 per day. Accommodation accounted for 52% of all personal expenditure.

A survey of 66 hotels and resorts showed occupancy over the Grand Prix period at 75-100%, with 5-star hotels at capacity and a dramatic 30% increase in trade for three-star hotels and resort accommodation, in comparison to the rest of the year. Premium prices were demanded across the board by hotel owners, price hikes averaging 15% increases on normal rates. In the four-star hotels, however, the price hike was a significant 30% and there was a drop in occupancy rates.

"It's abundantly clear from the figures that one group in particular is missing the boat when it comes to the Grand Prix success story, and that is the mainstream hotels," said Martin Whitaker of the Bahrain International Circuit. "By raising their prices so dramatically, the four-star hotels in particular are clearly losing customers, either to five-star hotels that can better justify the expense, or to more basic but cost-effective accommodation."

According to the figures the sale of tickets raised $10.8m and racegoers spent an additional $33.5m on merchandise, food, drink and other items at the circuit. In addition the event brought in a projected $7.9m through TV rights, commissions, facility rentals, sponsorship referrals and catering commissions.

F1 News > Bahrain GP claims half a billion boom

And my government said why would we bring F1 to Croatia? So what if Slavica E. is from Croatia? So what that we don't need to build a complete new track but only to upgrade the existing one? Who needs F1 on the sea in Croatia? Who needs hundreds of millions every year? Who needs better tourism promotion?

You f'n idiots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This to me seems like track owners mentality of the 1960s. Still the actual track isn't making money, the the overall effect is positive hence the government subsidies for many GPs.

Dumb idiots, I'm sick of all those retarded politicans..Our government looks like a hospital for mental diseases!

Referring to my post or...?

Yes.

In that case i agree.

Wow! Las Vegas averages 95+% occupancy rate every weekend

Bahrain sees dollars and sense in its Grand Prix

MANAMA, Bahrain: As Formula One prepares for the fifth edition of the Bahrain Grand Prix here on Sunday, some critics view the series' move to its first permanent venue in the Middle East as nothing more than an attempt by the sport's promoters to pocket cash in a wealthy region that has no motor-racing heritage and so no chance of turning a profit.

In fact, not only does Bahrain, like much of the Middle East, have a motor-racing tradition, but the Grand Prix here makes more than simply good financial sense, according to local officials.

Bahrain, like many countries in the region, has held desert rally events since the 1950s and there have been drag-racing competitions here for more than a decade. The staging of a Formula One race is thus a logical way to use the tip of the international motor-racing pyramid to develop the sport into something much more valuable.

"They are essentially building an economy where there wasn't one," said Ben Kirkland, who organized the first Motor Sport Business Forum Middle East in Bahrain this week. "There was an export in the Middle East, and now that export is finite and everyone is starting to realize that. So they now need to develop their economy independent of the oil industry."

An estimated $11.3 billion has been spent on motor sports in the Middle East over the last five years, according to the forum organizers. Indeed, from buying and sponsoring Formula One teams and building circuits, to creating independent racing series, Formula One theme parks and motor-racing business areas, the region is abuzz with racing activity.

Mubadala Development, an Adu Dhabi company, owns 5 percent of the Ferrari team and the government-owned Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding owns 30 percent of the McLaren Mercedes team. International race tracks have been built in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and the region has several new racing series, such as the Lumina series, supported by General Motors, the A1 series, the Speedcar series and the GP2 Asia series. There is a Ferrari theme park in Abu Dhabi and an entire motor-racing "city within a city" in Dubai.

Talal al-Zain, chairman of the Bahrain International Circuit and chief executive of Mumtalakat Holding, said it was all part of a larger strategy to create an economy. He said buying into the McLaren team helped give credibility to the company as it tries to set up an automotive-industry area around the circuit.

"It shows the world that we are really serious about our attempt," he said. "In the region here, people look at it very positively when you have an investor that is from the West. That adds credibility to your project, especially a company like McLaren."

Bahrain's project appears to be working. RUF Automobile, a German car manufacturer known for servicing Porsche, set up a factory at the Bahrain track.

"Racing in itself is an economy," Kirkland said. "You have a number of companies which set up as a result of racing, everything from hospitality companies who will come and take care of guests while they come over for racing to big companies like GM who get behind local series to help them market their cars."

It works both ways, of course. So vital is the Gulf region, and Asia in general, to the growth of Formula One that Luciano Secchi, a consultant for Union Properties, the company that owns the Motor City project in Dubai, said he thought there would soon be more Grand Prix races in this region than in Europe.

Motor City is a $2.5 billion project that has at its heart the Dubai Autodrome. There is also a residential area with 3,600 apartments and 800 luxury villas, a business area with workshops and showrooms, and three hotels. And next year the first Formula One theme park, called F1-X, will open there, aiming to receive two million visitors per year. It is the first of an estimated six to eight such theme parks around the world, Penny Fischer, who is working on the park for Union Properties, said at the forum on Thursday.

Union Properties also owns the Speedcar and GP2 Asia series, which are both based at Motor City.

"The idea is to develop a racing series in three to five years in Asia like Nascar or Indianapolis in the U.S.," Secchi said. "Formula One is worldwide, Nascar is only in the U.S., so why not Speedcar for Asia?"

The series staged a support race at the Malaysian Grand Prix and will be featured again this weekend in Bahrain. Among the racers are local drivers and former Formula One drivers, including Johnny Herbert, Jean Alesi, and Jacques Villeneuve.

In the GP2 Asia series, each team is required to use two drivers, one of whom must be from the Middle East or Asia.

In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, the country's first major international race track was opened on March 13 outside Riyadh. In addition to staging local racing series, the track will be used as a motor-sports job-training site - in everything from marketing to management to track marshaling and driving - in the hope of creating jobs in the future.

Owned by members of the Saudi royal family, the track is also viewed as a way to deliver a public message of safety and social responsibility, according to Bilal el-Kurjieh, the circuit's marketing manager.

"Motor racing is considered the second-most popular sport in Saudi Arabia, behind soccer," he said. "But there's nowhere to race, and they do it on the street. We are trying to turn this into a national initiative toward safety awareness."

But there is also a savvy business plan behind the circuit. The youthful Saudi population is being targeted for development, Kurjieh said. Throughout the region, local companies and the major car manufacturers are aiming at people with money to spend on cars.

Still, it takes time to develop awareness of and interest in Formula One. Attendance at the Bahrain Grand Prix is not as high as it is at most of the world's other circuits. The Bahrain race was sold out last year, but the seating capacity is only 45,000. The average attendance at most Grand Prix races in Europe is twice that. But with 130 million people living within a two-hour flight of the track, Zain said business was working.

He said that an independent study showed an injection into the economy of $540 million during the week of the Grand Prix. This includes the money spent by spectators, Formula One personnel and the media on hotels, taxis, car rentals, food, duty-free purchases at the airport and tickets on the national airline, Gulf Air, which is also the race's title sponsor.

Zain said that four years ago less than 30 percent of those who bought tickets to the festival linked to the race also bought the tickets to attend the Grand Prix. This year, the number of visitors who attend primarily for the race has risen to 60 percent.

"This has been because of the work of Bahrain promoting motor sport in general and Formula One in particular," Zain said.

He said the race was considered a family outing and something that many locals felt they should support for their country.

This mirrors the situation at the Indianapolis 500, where many of the spectators are racing fans only once a year, for the annual race on Memorial Day weekend in May.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/...389.php?page=1

We'll see countries to host F1 in the future!