The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has published a report highlighting the positive economic impact of the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships (August 3-13, 2023) for hosts Glasgow, Scotland and the United Kingdom.

The 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, the biggest cycling event ever organised, brought together 13 UCI World Championships from different disciplines in the same region over 11 days. More than 7,100 athletes from 131 nations took part, hoping to win one or more of the 220 titles of UCI World Champion at stake. This combined event will be held every four years, the year before the Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. The next UCI Cycling World Championships will be held in Haute-Savoie, France, in 2027.

According to the report – authored by professional services firm EY – nearly a million spectators gathered at the different venues to watch the competitions. A third of them came from outside Scotland, including almost 90,000 from outside the United Kingdom.

The 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships brought significant economic benefits, generating more than £205 million of economic activity for Scotland, with the equivalent of 5,285 jobs created over a year.

The event was also notable for its contributions to a more sustainable society. These included promoting inclusion and accessibility, encouraging active travel, instilling a sense of civic pride among Scottish residents and facilitating sustainable investment in the communities involved. The following figures demonstrate the success of the event in the areas mentioned:

• 97 per cent of visitors rated the UCI World Championships as inclusive;
• 40 per cent of visitors were women;
• 82 per cent of visitors used active modes of transport;
• 79 per cent of Scottish residents said they intended to cycle more;
• 95 per cent of Scottish residents said they were proud to see their region host the event;
• More than £6 million invested to date in all 32 local authorities;
• 93 per cent of stakeholders said they intended to continue the initiatives developed as part of the UCI World Championships.

Sustainability was also at the heart of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, through measures such as signing the United Nations Framework Agreement on Sport for Climate Action, measuring the event’s carbon footprint, implementing a waste management plan, using renewable energy sources wherever possible, taking sustainability standards into account when choosing suppliers and implementing a number of environmental and biodiversity initiatives at local level.

According to the EY report, 86 per cent of the event’s stakeholders consider that the UCI World Championships were organised in an environmentally-friendly manner and 35 per cent of participating National Federations intend to offset the carbon footprint of their travel to the UCI World Championships.

The organisers of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships will shortly publish a Sustainability Report presenting figures on the event’s performance in this respect.

David Lappartient, UCI president, said: “The 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow and across Scotland were an unprecedented success at every level. As the EY report shows, this success extends beyond sport, to the economy, tourism and sustainable development. An event like the one we experienced in August 2023 leads to long-term benefits for the host communities and their residents. We are all the more pleased because, well before it took place, this was the event’s main objective: to delight those who love sport, but also to ensure that the power of the bike would enable the organisers of the UCI Cycling World Championships to achieve broader objectives related to development, wellbeing, and health.”

Paul Bush OBE, chair of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, said: “We set our ambitions high to create something truly spectacular for the athletes, the fans and for the wider community with the first-ever combined UCI Cycling World Championships. The study underlines that this event was about much more than eleven days of incredible performance, it delivered a variety of social, economic and environmental benefits, setting a benchmark for future editions and paving the way for positive longer-term change.

“Scotland’s reputation as the perfect stage for events is recognised nationally and internationally, and its enviable global reputation as a major events powerhouse was further reinforced as a result of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships. Events of this scale not only provide the opportunity to create memorable experiences, but they have the power to connect, inspire and transcend boundaries.”

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