Yorkshire Looking To Maximise 2014 Tour De France Windfall

With all the marketing publicity in the last few days being hogged by Scotland’s preparations for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Yorkshire is stepping up to the plate to remind us that another important event is taking place in their part of the world in 2014.

It was top news when it was first announced, and our memories are now being jogged that Yorkshire will host the Grand Depart when the Tour de France gets under way in next year, with high hopes of  emulating the success of the last time that it visited the UK in 2007., when the ramp was rolled down in London.

With Chris Froome achieving an unheard of second successive British victory in this year’s race, the job of Gary Verity, chief executive of organisers Welcome to Yorkshire, has been made just that little bit easier.

He sees that the growing profile of the sport in the UK with Olympic and Tour success will result in a much greater economic impact than when this cycling jamboree last visited these shores.
He envisages that hosting the world's most famous cycling race will bring in excess of £100m in economic benefit to the region. He says: "It could be double or treble that, who knows?

"It's a great boost to the economy. At this stage in the economic cycle, it will be very welcome indeed. I am in no doubt they will come to Yorkshire in their millions, lining the length and breadth of the route to cheer on the champions of world cycling and our home-grown British heroes."

The economic figures are rather mind boggling, reinforcing what a big event this is. With an estimated cost of £6.5m to Yorkshire councils, this sum including a £4million “staging fee”, plus £10m in assistance from the Treasury, the capital investment is not insignificant.

The English Tourist Board perhaps states the obvious in highlighting the race as one of the star attractions of a busy year of cycling events in England in 2014, bringing an electric atmosphere on the route and encouraging would-be visitors to arrange their holidays to coincide with it.

That famous Yorkshire tourism attraction, Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms, has branches on the route in three locations and stands to benefit from an increase in visitors to the region both in the short and long term.

It is as famous outside the county for its Taylor’s tea brand, and catering and retail operations director Paula Kaye said, "For us the Tour is a fantastic opportunity to showcase Yorkshire and Bettys to an international audience with two to three million visitors expected, many visiting Yorkshire for the first time. Longer term, regardless of footfall during the event, it's about putting Yorkshire on the map and encouraging return visits."

She says: "We can't let teams and tourists leave Yorkshire without experiencing a Bettys afternoon tea and real Yorkshire hospitality," adding that she believes the race's presence in Yorkshire can only be positive and help to deliver a feel-good factor to the region, very much along the lines of that generated by the Olympics and the Jubilee.

There are, however, voices of caution amongst all of the positive talk. The projected windfall to the county is estimated at about £100million, representing a 0.1% gain to the local economy. This may not be evenly spread however.

A Cardiff University study also pointed out that in 2007, London gained more than Kent in economic terms, as it already had the infrastructure, as a capital city, to cope with the sudden increase in visitors and a race entourage of 4,500 people.

Professor Simon Shibli of Sheffield Hallam University suggests that the places that will gain the most could be venues where the race stops overnight. This could mean that Leeds and the Cambridge area - where the third stage begins - stand to be the biggest winners from the Tour circus coming to town.

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