Ninety-six percent of visitors were satisfied with their experience and the direct economic impacts of the event exceeded EUR 25 million. The World Championships enabled both the Lahti region and Nordic ski sports to reach a large number of new people.

This is the first time an impact study of this calibre was conducted in Finland and it served as a pilot project for future events organised in the country. The study was conducted in cooperation with the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, the City of Lahti, Lahti Region and the Finnish Olympic Committee.

According to the analysis, even on an international scale, Lahti 2017 is one of the best examples of a truly holistic event that delivered a whole range of impacts for Lahti and Finland.

“When evaluating events, it is equally important – perhaps even more important – to also look at all impacts other than just direct economic impacts. The highlights for Lahti 2017 include, among other things, high media reach figures, a high-quality volunteer programme, sustainability work, successful partnerships and social impacts,” said Sportcal’s CEO Mike Laflin.

The study by Sportcal indicates that 96% of visitors were satisfied with the experience.

“We made a conscious decision to change the operating culture and the event. Competition for the free time of consumers is becoming increasingly fierce and the number of visitors to sports events has been declining for a long time. We invested in knowing the customers and tailored the event experience on the basis of studies. We also created new kinds of cooperation models with several different stakeholders. We believe that there is no returning to the past,” commented Lahti 2017 Secretary General Janne Leskinen.

270,000 visitors attend events at the stadium and the market square

A total of 180,000 tickets were sold for the World Championships, with the total number of visitors reaching 220,000. In addition, approximately 50,000 people attended the free-entry opening and award ceremonies in Lahti’s market square.

The direct economic impact of the event exceeded EUR 25 million. Sixty percent of visitors were from outside the region (approximately one fifth from abroad).

Towards more sustainable events

The World Championships had nearly 50 international and national partners who participated in creating the event experience together with the Championships organisation. Sustainability themes played a key role in the cooperation with different partners and stakeholders, including presenting sponsor StoraEnso.

The study by Sportcal underlines the significant role of increasing the awareness of ski sports and the event among new generations. For the schools of Lahti, the World Championships was the first learning opportunity with a special emphasis on a multi-disciplinary approach, and the opening event was attended by approximately 15,000 students. Cooperation with educational institutions provided students with study and traineeship opportunities related to the World Championships. Roughly 900 students worked as volunteers at the World Championships.