VisitEngland’s Chief Executive James Berresford: This Rugby World Cup will be remembered as the biggest rugby tournament to date

LONDON, 2015-11-4 — /Travel PR News/ — VisitEngland, the national tourist board, is today celebrating the most successful Rugby World Cup to date, with a total of 2.47 million tickets sold. England’s Rugby World Cup has broken a host of records for the host nation including ticket sales and attendance. 98 per cent of available tickets have been sold with the total 2.4 million beating France’s 2007 figure of 2.25 million.

VisitEngland’s Chief Executive, James Berresford, says: “This Rugby World Cup will be remembered as the biggest rugby tournament to date. Over the past six weeks we have hosted a fantastic celebration across 13 venues and 11 destinations that have showcased the very best of our sport, but also the very best of England. Estimates shows that the UK economy has benefitted from a £1 billion direct cash injection, a boost of £2.5 billion when indirect spend is taken into account. With visitors enjoying the atmosphere of the tournament; travelling, sightseeing and exploring the country; visiting the fantastic destinations that England has to offer in between games. In addition to the matches, we have had 1.5 million people through 15 fanzones across the country, with huge support from the cities, making this a record-breaking tournament to be proud of”.

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Press enquiries:

For more information, please contact:

Kaye Woodhouse, PR Manager, Communication and Tourism Affairs
Tel: 0207 578 1244 \ M: 07855 962 940
Email: kaye.woodhouse@visitengland.org
website: www.visitengland.com/biz

Notes to Editors:

The Rugby World Cup 2015 in numbers:

• £1billion – cash injection into UK economy
• 2.47m – Tickets sold at the tournament
• 89,267 – World record attendance at Wembley for match between Ireland and Romania
• 1.5m – Fanzone visitors across the country with more than 2,000 signing up to become referees or coaches
• 99 per cent – Hotel occupancy rates of up to 99 per cent on match days
• 10.4m – Viewers in UK for England’s defeat by Wales – the most since 2007 final in France
• 250m – Views of official media content
• 1billion – Total social reach
• £15million –profit for RFU from ticket sales which is due to be injected back into the sport’s grass roots
• Record TV audiences have been recorded in non-traditional rugby markets including Japan, the United States, Brazil, Germany and Holland.

About VisitEngland

• VisitEngland is the country’s national tourist board, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport. We work in partnership with Government and the industry to develop the visitor experience across England, plan national tourism strategy, grow the value of tourism in England and provide advocacy for the industry and our visitors;. Our work is underpinned by robust research and customer insights.
• Over the last five years VisitEngland has invested over £71.6m of Government funding in English tourism. These investments have generated over £1.5 billion growth in visitor spending and to date have created approx 29,500 jobs.
• England is a unique destination and a real powerhouse in global tourism. It represents 84 per cent of the total UK visitor economy, is worth £106 billion, and supports 2.6 million jobs.
• For further information and to access the latest in-depth market intelligence and statistics visit www.visitengland.com/biz or www.visitengland.com for consumer information.

 

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