The German economic research institute "Ifo" predicted today, Friday, that the Euro 2024 football championship will inject around one billion euros (1.07 billion dollars) into the economy of Germany, which is hosting the tournament starting today, due to tourists visiting for the matches. The institute, which is the leading economic research organization in the country, stated that this equates to about 0.1 percent of economic output in the second quarter of the year, with expectations that the hospitality and retail food sectors in Germany will be the biggest beneficiaries of the tournament.
However, Jerome Wolf, a researcher at the Ifo Institute, noted, "Nevertheless, this impact is short-term, so it is likely that service exports will decrease due to tourists leaving again after the Euro Championship ends in the third quarter, and it will remain unchanged overall." According to the institute's calculations, which are based on data from the 2006 World Cup hosted by Germany, more than 600,000 additional tourists are expected, with hotels seeing 1.5 million extra overnight stays during the championship.
The German Ministry of Economic Affairs also anticipates a temporary bounce-back in sectors dealing with the public after a decline in retail sales this year, but not to the extent seen during the 2006 World Cup. Experts agree that the overall impact of the Euro 2024 Championship on Germany's economy, the largest in the continent, also depends on the performance of the German national team in the tournament.
