Preliminary data on the impact of World Design Capital Valencia 2022 has been presented to the press. Tourist data and citizen participation confirm a very positive first months.

Econcult -Research Area in Economics of Culture and Tourism of the University of Valencia- with Pau Rausell as current director and strategic co-director of the candidacy World Design Capital Valencia, have been responsible for conducting this study.

Xavi Calvo, director of València World Design Capital 2022, commented at the press conference that “both in terms of tourism and citizen participation in events related to design and in the framework of the official program of World Design Capital Valencia 2022 we have detected an increasing interest and a great participation, even and very satisfactorily from people outside the professional design sector. Something we always dreamed of as a goal: to bring design out of its inbreeding and spread the enthusiasm of all. The Àgora, the central space of the Town Hall Square, has undoubtedly been a revulsive in which we have managed to attract the attention of citizens and attract them to know our program of activities”.

World Design Capital Valencia 2022 shows that its mission as a cultural and economic dynamizer goes far beyond managing an international event, and has generated a positive legacy in the city and society in these first months. And it is foreseeable that the impact of the celebration will accelerate throughout the rest of the year and according to the projection of some estimates it is plausible that, by the end of the year,  World Design Capital Valencia 2022 will have captured the attention of more than two million people and will have attracted some 150,000 foreign visitors in 2022.

Below we summarize the 8 data that define the impact of the first months of World Design Capital Valencia 2022:

1 – 9 million euros expenditure by visitors

The visitor figures represent a direct impact that, with a conservative approximation -assuming that only a third of the above-average visitors are directly or indirectly caused by World Design Capital Valencia 2022- translates into a direct expenditure of 9 million euros distributed in 2.6 million in spending on accommodation, 2.5 million in bars and restaurants and 3.8 million in cultural activities and other expenses at the destination. On average, visitors attracted by World Design Capital Valencia 2022 spend 3.9 nights in the city of Valencia.

“The indirect and induced effects are obviously even greater and will be calculated from the end of the event,” advanced the director of Econcult.

2 – An active participation of almost 200,000 people

More than 50% of the citizens in the metropolitan area of Valencia are already aware of this year’s celebration and nearly 200,000 people have attended the activities that required prior registration or exhibitions, being therefore open the number of visitors to the city who have enjoyed many other activities that do not compile data until the end of the year.

3 – 8.4 out of 10 is the mark of quality

The support given by citizens to València World Design Capital 2022 is 8.4 out of 10 in quality and the direct impact in terms of tourism expenditure has almost doubled in the first four months of the year with the contribution of the public sector to the event.

Women -with a rating of 8.75-, people with higher education -8.84- and the 55-64 age group -8.77- are the socio-demographic groups that show the greatest support.

On the other hand, people over 64 years of age and those with lower levels of education are those with the lowest levels of support -with a rating of 8.00 and 7.75 respectively-.

In addition, the Econcult report also confirms that citizens show a high level of interest in design -6.27 on average on a scale of 1 to 10-, above other areas such as cinema, theater or heritage. Interest in design is only below interest in music.

4 – One of the world’s most ambitious design capitals

Pau Rausell, stated that “although the objectives of the capital go far beyond the economic impact generated on tourism, the fact is that the celebration is a determining factor in explaining the good tourist behavior. The data we have to date show that we are talking about one of the most ambitious World Design Capitals in terms of social, cultural and tourist impact, although we will know best at the end of the year.”

5 – More visitors than Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga, Madrid and Seville.

The direct impact in terms of tourism spending doubled the public sector’s contribution to World Design Capital Valencia 2022 in the first four months of 2022. “During this period of time, Valencia received considerably more visitors compared to the average evolution of the average urban tourism of other cities such as Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga, Madrid and Seville. This differential, which is partially explained by the celebration of World Design Capital Valencia 2022, has meant almost 50 thousand national visitors and 25 thousand foreign visitors more than what would correspond to it if it had followed the average dynamics of the rest of the cities,” Rausell detailed.

6 – The Valencian Community attracts more design students than any other region in Spain

7 – The applied methodology is being studied by the World Design Organization

In order of being a reference for future world capitals, Rausell commented that this “is not a conventional impact study”, as it is not only based on economic figures, but also covers the social, environmental and design impact. For all these reasons, the WDO is considering its application for future selected cities.

8 – Presence in more than 25 countries around the world

In addition to traveling around the main Spanish cities to participate in professional meetings, World Design Capital Valencia 2022 has been present in 25 countries, representing Valencia as a creative, industrial and talent destination and contributing to its international promotion.

From Masion&Object in Paris with the participation of Xavi Calvo, director of World Design Capital Valencia 2022 as Ambassador of Spain to the participation in various initiatives of the International Book Fair in Frankfurt in October 2022, the international promotion of World Design Capital Valencia 2022 does not stop in this post-pandemic year. Thus, in recent months it has built a program of prescribers in different European countries and a program of participation coinciding with festivals and national and international design weeks such as Barcelona, Madrid, Bucharest, Milan, London and Dubai, among others.

World Design Capital Valencia 2022 has also been represented at the Biennial Design of Havana this June and will soon be presented at the Design Museum Holon in Tel Aviv, one of the world’s leading design institutions, and will organize a workshop on ADN Cerámico in connection with the exhibition “Overdose” in the museum itself.

In autumn, World Design Capital Valencia 2022 will participate in events such as Helsinki Design Week, Costa Rica Fashion Week 2022 and Budapest Design Week.

In parallel, to promote design from a commercial perspective and as a tool for competitiveness, València World Design Capital 2022 has the support of ICEX (Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade), with which it is present in nearly 200 markets and intends to multiply the commercial and industrial possibilities arising from the capital.