Tax can be fun, especially for events

Research carried out by a group of researchers from BUAS analysed the economic and social impacts of the Zandvoort Grand Prix in 2022, following up on an initial study in 2021.

The results showed that the GP generated a total of 52.6 million euros in expenditure, of which 45.6 million (87%) was spent in Zandvoort itself. The analysis also showed the split between different expenditure categories, revealing that 75% of total visitor expenditure went on tickets to the event, an increase relative to the 71% spent on tickets in 2021.

Clearly Zandvoort has decided that the event organisers are earning more than enough money and should give more back to the host location. They have therefore announced the introduction of a ‘fun tax’ of 3 euros per ticket on GP events in the town. On the basis of the 155,400 tickets sold in 2022, this should shift around 466,200 euros from the event organisers to the Municipality for the DGP alone. Of course, the people who will ultimately pay the additional cost will be the event visitors.

Many event organisers will probably think twice before they participate in such economic impact studies, if the basis result is to place additional costs on the event itself!

Reference

Zegers, K., van Liempt, A., Klijs, J., van de Graaf, S. & Mazeland, S. (2022) Onderzoeksrapportage Impact Dutch Grand Prix Zandvoort 2022: Economische en sociale impact van de Dutch Grand Prix voor bezoekers, bewoners en bedrijven.

The full report (in Dutch) can be downloaded here