THE LARGEST SAILING RACE IN THE WORLD
Trieste, 1 - 12 October 2025
Trieste, 1 - 12 October 2025
Barcolana - News06.02.19
Barcolana brings 71.5 million Euros to Trieste
Barcolana50 has generated an economic return for Trieste of 71.5 million euros, revealed the Yacht Club Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano (SVBG) today at a conference open to all citizens. The economic impact study was carried out by prof. Guido Guerzoni of Bocconi University and partner of B2G Consulting to measure the value of the event’s impact on the city’s economy, employment, tax and promotional benefits. The research quantified the revenue produced by the 50th edition of the event for the city of Trieste and the region Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) in October 2018.
Alongside the event’s positive impact on the local economy, an additional 26.5 million euros arose in the form of media value linked to media coverage and return on image of the event and the city of Trieste. Generating an overall economic balance of over 96 million euros, the event organised by SVBG has been estimated to involve around 234thousand individuals and attract approximately 300,000 participants overall.
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT – Analysis of the event economic impact was undertaken after conducting an opinion poll on a large sample of event attendees divided into categories (sailing competitors, day visitors, Trieste’s citizens, tourists residing outside the province of Trieste). Data analysed included attendees average daily spending, average stay in the city (some participants stayed for more than two days) and indirect and induced effects of the increased expenditure in the local area.
“What emerges – briefly summarizes SVBG Chairman, Mitja Gialuz – is that Barcolana can generate an economic return for Trieste and its region of 71.5 million euros. This revenue is brought to Trieste in the last quarter of the year, to the benefit of the community as a whole. This is not profit earned by Barcolana, but the economic impact generated by the event for Trieste, of course, but also for the entire Region”.
To create this value for the host area – the study reveals – Trieste should have a company with 572 full-time employees, because the generated value corresponds to 572 FTE, that is full-time equivalent jobs per year.
“We have calculated the event’s economic impact using the most cautious standard method employed internationally to estimate the economic impact of major Italian cultural events, such as Festivalletteratura in Mantova and Pordenonelegge – explains prof. Guido Guerzoni, who has conducted major economic impact studies of literary festivals and art exhibitions.
RETURN ON TAX - The study also reveals that Barcolana’s impact on tax for the region Friuli Venezia Giulia is remarkable. Local public institutions invest 340thousand euros in the regatta, obtaining a tax revenue of over 6.2 million euros per year from direct and indirect taxation. Thanks to Barcolana this tax revenue remains in the Region’s Treasury because FVG is a region with special status which retains large amounts of duties and taxes (such as 59% of VAT). “We may say – summarised Guerzoni – that for the Region’s public institutions Barcolana is a great business deal: by investing 340thousand euros in 2018 they obtained a direct economic return of over 6 million euros with an 18.14 ROI. Without Barcolana, public institutions would have 6 million euros less in their budgets and Trieste’s GDP would have 75.1 million euros less, thus losing an important source of income for the city”.
“Barcolana – remarked Guerzoni – is a unique event whose economic multiplier effect accrued to the local area should be inspirational for other events and the development of tourist marketing strategies in Italy. Drawing on local excellence is paramount to maximize the return on investments, so that the generated revenue remains in the host region, as it happens here with Barcolana. However, safeguarding the event’s quality, guaranteeing its constant and gradual development, while providing support to its organisers is fundamental for the knowhow, excellence and authenticity to be retained. Without resources, organizers do not have the essential ingredients (such as spaces, resources, collaboration) and the event runs the risk of dying out, of unfulfilling visitors’ expectations and of seeing all its value fade away quickly. Paradoxically, this scenario may cause serious damage to the host region, not so much for the organizers who may readjust and act on a smaller scale, but mainly for the city and local economic operators”.
THE CONCLUSIONS DRAWN BY CHAIRMAN GIALUZ - “Knowing that a small yacht club set up fifty years ago by the passion of sailors today generates so much revenue for the city is a great honour and a great responsibility. Special thanks must once more go to all those people who work with Barcolana and for Barcolana. However, today we must make a step forward and appeal to the city and its economic operators to strengthen and consolidate Barcolana, calling on everyone – institutions and operators benefiting from this event – to commit. That is why we will call for roundtable discussions with trade associations and operators to find a support model that can grant the city the same economic impact the event had in its fiftieth edition”, concluded SVBG chairman Mitja Gialuz.
KEY FACTS
300,000 Attendees (intermediate estimate, corroborated by analysis of aerial photographs and comparison with 2016 research data)
234,738 Arrivals (single individuals spending at least one day in Trieste) of which 102,738 (56%) from outside the province
Economic value of economic and employment impact
€43,842,478 Total expenditure (attendees + competitors + organizers + sponsors for local activation budgets)
€71,510,414 value of overall economic impact (revenue brought to the city and its province by people coming from outside the province)
572 FTE (full-time equivalent jobs created by the economic impact)
Economic value of tax impact
Total tax revenue € 6,169 million
Yearly public investment in the event € 340 thousand, with 18.14 ROI for public institutions
Economic value of promotional impact
19,910 releases on printed and online press and social media
Corresponding to a value of € 26.51 million calculated with the AVE method
-
BARCOLANA - Barcolana is the largest regatta in the world raced in Trieste every second Sunday of October, and preceded by ten days of activities on land and at sea offering four hundred events.
Organized in partnership with Trieste Town Council, FVG Region and its main sponsor Generali, and the support of many partners, the 50th edition raced on Sunday 14th October 2018 was attended by 2869 yachts – a new world record for a sailing regatta. The 50th edition of Barcolana attracted to Trieste over 300thousand visitors, making it once again one of the most attended events in Italy, with an international return on image. Victory of Barcolan50 was secured by Spirit of PortoPiccolo.
GUIDO GUERZONI - Guido Guerzoni graduated with top marks in 1992 in Business Management at the University “Luigi Bocconi”, where he then obtained a PhD in Economic and Social History in 1996. For twenty-five years he has dealt with the economy of art, the management of cultural institutions, museum studies and urban regeneration projects. Since 1996 he has taught at the University “Luigi Bocconi”, where he is in charge of the course “Museum Management” at the Master’s Degree in “Economics and Management in Arts, Culture, Media and Entertainment”. For 11 years he was Project manager of the M9 museum in Venice and is one of the partners of B2G Consulting, a strategic consultancy company specialising in culture. For fifteen years he has dealt with the major Italian studies on the economic impact of cultural events.
He was Deborah Loeb Brice Fellow at The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, he won a full-time research fellowship at the Getty Research Institute of Los Angeles, he was visiting professor at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Christie’s Education in London and senior research fellow at the University of California at Davis. He collaborates with Rai, Il Sole24ore, the Espresso group and Il Giornale dell’Arte.
SVBG
The yacht club Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano was set up in Trieste in 1968 by some of its members who were passionate about the sea and sailing. A small yacht club with very few boats but al lot of passion. A year after its foundation, its members decided to organize a regatta where all the boats of the gulf would compete. So they asked the Italian Sailing Federation to include this event in the calendar of regattas and, as it was the last to be entered in the calendar, it was moved to the end of the season as the last regatta of the year. That is how the Autumn Cup came about, known today as Barcolana. In so many years, the yacht club has grown competing in many regattas and seeing many of his athletes also race at international level.
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT – Analysis of the event economic impact was undertaken after conducting an opinion poll on a large sample of event attendees divided into categories (sailing competitors, day visitors, Trieste’s citizens, tourists residing outside the province of Trieste). Data analysed included attendees average daily spending, average stay in the city (some participants stayed for more than two days) and indirect and induced effects of the increased expenditure in the local area.
“What emerges – briefly summarizes SVBG Chairman, Mitja Gialuz – is that Barcolana can generate an economic return for Trieste and its region of 71.5 million euros. This revenue is brought to Trieste in the last quarter of the year, to the benefit of the community as a whole. This is not profit earned by Barcolana, but the economic impact generated by the event for Trieste, of course, but also for the entire Region”.
To create this value for the host area – the study reveals – Trieste should have a company with 572 full-time employees, because the generated value corresponds to 572 FTE, that is full-time equivalent jobs per year.
“We have calculated the event’s economic impact using the most cautious standard method employed internationally to estimate the economic impact of major Italian cultural events, such as Festivalletteratura in Mantova and Pordenonelegge – explains prof. Guido Guerzoni, who has conducted major economic impact studies of literary festivals and art exhibitions.
RETURN ON TAX - The study also reveals that Barcolana’s impact on tax for the region Friuli Venezia Giulia is remarkable. Local public institutions invest 340thousand euros in the regatta, obtaining a tax revenue of over 6.2 million euros per year from direct and indirect taxation. Thanks to Barcolana this tax revenue remains in the Region’s Treasury because FVG is a region with special status which retains large amounts of duties and taxes (such as 59% of VAT). “We may say – summarised Guerzoni – that for the Region’s public institutions Barcolana is a great business deal: by investing 340thousand euros in 2018 they obtained a direct economic return of over 6 million euros with an 18.14 ROI. Without Barcolana, public institutions would have 6 million euros less in their budgets and Trieste’s GDP would have 75.1 million euros less, thus losing an important source of income for the city”.
“Barcolana – remarked Guerzoni – is a unique event whose economic multiplier effect accrued to the local area should be inspirational for other events and the development of tourist marketing strategies in Italy. Drawing on local excellence is paramount to maximize the return on investments, so that the generated revenue remains in the host region, as it happens here with Barcolana. However, safeguarding the event’s quality, guaranteeing its constant and gradual development, while providing support to its organisers is fundamental for the knowhow, excellence and authenticity to be retained. Without resources, organizers do not have the essential ingredients (such as spaces, resources, collaboration) and the event runs the risk of dying out, of unfulfilling visitors’ expectations and of seeing all its value fade away quickly. Paradoxically, this scenario may cause serious damage to the host region, not so much for the organizers who may readjust and act on a smaller scale, but mainly for the city and local economic operators”.
THE CONCLUSIONS DRAWN BY CHAIRMAN GIALUZ - “Knowing that a small yacht club set up fifty years ago by the passion of sailors today generates so much revenue for the city is a great honour and a great responsibility. Special thanks must once more go to all those people who work with Barcolana and for Barcolana. However, today we must make a step forward and appeal to the city and its economic operators to strengthen and consolidate Barcolana, calling on everyone – institutions and operators benefiting from this event – to commit. That is why we will call for roundtable discussions with trade associations and operators to find a support model that can grant the city the same economic impact the event had in its fiftieth edition”, concluded SVBG chairman Mitja Gialuz.
KEY FACTS
300,000 Attendees (intermediate estimate, corroborated by analysis of aerial photographs and comparison with 2016 research data)
234,738 Arrivals (single individuals spending at least one day in Trieste) of which 102,738 (56%) from outside the province
Economic value of economic and employment impact
€43,842,478 Total expenditure (attendees + competitors + organizers + sponsors for local activation budgets)
€71,510,414 value of overall economic impact (revenue brought to the city and its province by people coming from outside the province)
572 FTE (full-time equivalent jobs created by the economic impact)
Economic value of tax impact
Total tax revenue € 6,169 million
Yearly public investment in the event € 340 thousand, with 18.14 ROI for public institutions
Economic value of promotional impact
19,910 releases on printed and online press and social media
Corresponding to a value of € 26.51 million calculated with the AVE method
-
BARCOLANA - Barcolana is the largest regatta in the world raced in Trieste every second Sunday of October, and preceded by ten days of activities on land and at sea offering four hundred events.
Organized in partnership with Trieste Town Council, FVG Region and its main sponsor Generali, and the support of many partners, the 50th edition raced on Sunday 14th October 2018 was attended by 2869 yachts – a new world record for a sailing regatta. The 50th edition of Barcolana attracted to Trieste over 300thousand visitors, making it once again one of the most attended events in Italy, with an international return on image. Victory of Barcolan50 was secured by Spirit of PortoPiccolo.
GUIDO GUERZONI - Guido Guerzoni graduated with top marks in 1992 in Business Management at the University “Luigi Bocconi”, where he then obtained a PhD in Economic and Social History in 1996. For twenty-five years he has dealt with the economy of art, the management of cultural institutions, museum studies and urban regeneration projects. Since 1996 he has taught at the University “Luigi Bocconi”, where he is in charge of the course “Museum Management” at the Master’s Degree in “Economics and Management in Arts, Culture, Media and Entertainment”. For 11 years he was Project manager of the M9 museum in Venice and is one of the partners of B2G Consulting, a strategic consultancy company specialising in culture. For fifteen years he has dealt with the major Italian studies on the economic impact of cultural events.
He was Deborah Loeb Brice Fellow at The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, he won a full-time research fellowship at the Getty Research Institute of Los Angeles, he was visiting professor at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Christie’s Education in London and senior research fellow at the University of California at Davis. He collaborates with Rai, Il Sole24ore, the Espresso group and Il Giornale dell’Arte.
SVBG
The yacht club Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano was set up in Trieste in 1968 by some of its members who were passionate about the sea and sailing. A small yacht club with very few boats but al lot of passion. A year after its foundation, its members decided to organize a regatta where all the boats of the gulf would compete. So they asked the Italian Sailing Federation to include this event in the calendar of regattas and, as it was the last to be entered in the calendar, it was moved to the end of the season as the last regatta of the year. That is how the Autumn Cup came about, known today as Barcolana. In so many years, the yacht club has grown competing in many regattas and seeing many of his athletes also race at international level.
