Icelanders spending 0.1% of national GDP on Euro 2016?
Photo: Iceland Monitor/Skapti Hallgrímsson
This is assuming that every Icelander going to France to cheer on their national team attends two games (Category 34 tickets) and spends ISK 150,000 (just over €1,000) on flights, accommodation and board.
These not unreasonable assumptions would mean a total Euro 2016 expenditure of ISK 2.2 billion (approx. €15.9 million) – equivalent to 0.1% of the entire nation’s GDP.
Icelanders have bought 27,000 tickets for Euro 2016 matches.
Much of this money will be spent in foreign currencies, so the outflow of currency from Iceland is considerable. That said, it is likely that many of these travellers would have taken their summer holidays abroad anyway, so the extra ‘hit’ caused by Euro 2016 is likely to be much less.
On the other hand, the Football Association of Iceland will bring an inward injection of currency in the form of the ISK 1.1 billion they will receive for Iceland’s participation in Euro 2016. This will go up to ISK 1.5 billion (approx. €10.9 million) if Iceland qualifies to the last sixteen.
