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Mexico earns 446 million dollars from F1 GP

Xinhua, March 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Mexico's Formula one (F1) Grand Prix in 2015 generated economic gains of 446 million US dollars, announced the Latin American country's Tourism Ministry Sectur on Thursday.

Out of the total amount, 37.5 percent relates to the local impact in Mexico City and 62.2 percent corresponds to benefits related to media exposure, according to a report released by Sectur.

F1 is one of the most traditional sporting events in the world. It is the sports championship with the third largest audience in the world and in Nov. 2015 it returned to Mexico after a 23-year absence.

During the event, in which German driver Nico Rosberg won for Mercedes, 335,850 spectators attended the race in three days. This figure made Mexico the second largest attendance in the F1 calendar.

The race created 13,467 jobs in the region, 10,842 directly through construction, organization and follow-ups.

There was also an income of 19 million dollars generated by 284,330 nights spent in hotels during the period.

90 percent of national tourists chose to stay in hotels and 10 percent of international visitors (1,567 people) stayed in and around Mexico City for a week and generated an additional income of 2.8 million dollars.

"Mexico City's Grand Prix was a complete success and it has been recognized as the Best Event of the Year in F1 and it is hoped that in the five years (of races in Mexico) around two billion dollars will be earned from economic impact and media exposure," said the report.

Tickets for the second race are already sold out in some parts of the autodrome which bodes well for an equally successful Grand Prix in 2016, according to Sectur.

F1 will take place in Mexico every year until 2019 and will cost 413 million dollars which will be financed by the Interamerican Entertainment Corporation (Grupo CIE) and Mexico's federal government.

The entertainment company will invest 200 million dollars over the five years to cover the race track's expenses such as remodelling while the federal government will inject 213 million dollars through the Mexican Tourism Board (CPTM) in order to pay the rights for bringing F1 to the Latin American country. Endit