A report commissioned by Fáilte Ireland shows that the Ryder Cup injected €143 million into the economy, exceeding expectations by more than €10 million. Caroline Maddenreports.

In the lead-up to the golf tournament, which took place at the K Club last September, Fáilte Ireland estimated that its economic benefit would be €130 million.

At the time it was accused of being wildly optimistic, with a report published by Anderson Economic Group and Amárach Consulting suggesting it was overvalued by almost €90 million.

The report published yesterday, which was carried out by Deloitte, indicates that Fáilte Ireland's initial estimate was actually conservative. Deloitte found that the total direct economic impact of the event was €143 million, 32 per cent higher than that of the 2002 Ryder Cup in England, and 80 per cent higher than that of the 1997 event in Spain.

Deloitte's valuation included money spent by event organisers, spectators and members of the media. Expenditure that would have occurred anyway, such as money which would have been spent by Irish spectators had the event not taken place, was excluded in order to avoid double-counting.

The "downstream" effect of the additional expenditure generated by the Ryder Cup - where spending is "recycled" through the economy - was also excluded from the €143 million figure.

According to Deloitte's calculations, taking this effect into account would bring the full impact of the event to €240 million.

On average, spectators spent €350 a day, rising to €600 for US corporate guests.

"Not only does the report confirm that the total . . . benefit of the event to the economy comfortably exceeded earlier estimates, it also confirms previously reported perceptions about our visitors' experience, with over 80 per cent suggesting that they would return to Ireland in the future and 92 per cent prepared to recommend Ireland as a golfing holiday destination," Minister for Tourism John O'Donoghue said yesterday.

Ryder Cup director Richard Hills said the figures were calculated using conservative methodology, and highlighted the way in which the Ryder Cup and golf can drive tourism. "In addition to spending three days at the Ryder Cup, visitors from America stayed in Ireland for a further 4.7 days, while other overseas visitors stayed an additional three days," he said.

The Deloitte report also showed that spectator spending was 60 per cent higher at the K Club tournament than at the 2002 event. This was mainly due to increased attendance, with spectator numbers jumping from 147,000 in 2002 to 260,000 last year.

Spectator spending outside the event also rose, by 50 per cent.