A recent study has found that Premier League games have become a huge tourist attraction, with Arsenal and Manchester United attracting more fans from abroad than any other club.
The study, carried out by Visit Britain, found that 109,000 tourists visited the Emirates Stadium in 2014 as live football proved to be a huge attraction.
More than 800,000 tourists visited Britain last year to watch live football, boosting the economy by £684million. pic.twitter.com/l0n5UPkZVu
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) September 10, 2015
The last time such a study was conducted was back in 2010, when it found that almost £600m was spent by tourists visiting Britain and attending football games. The latest study sees an increase of 15% as tourists who saw live football spent a huge total of £684m during their stay in the country.
The Premier League is the most watched in the world and has a huge appeal but this must cause some level of concern? Atmospheres are widely criticised, as are the prices of going to a football game, and more British fans than ever are taking weekends in the Netherlands of Germany to sample European football where the tickets are cheaper and the stadiums are louder.
I am sure Arsenal won’t mind too much when tourists are bringing in money, but it is a shame that ticket prices for local fans are a hot talking point while the club doesn’t seem to value supporters of the club over the tourism trade. That isn’t to say that Arsenal don’t have fantastic fans all over the globe, but you do wonder how many of the visiting tourists are seeing live football as a casual event rather than making a pilgrimage of sorts as fans of the club.
A happy medium between the club making money and more local fans having the opportunities to attend matches certainly wouldn’t go amiss.