“The Coldplay concerts projected Coimbra to the national and international stage and made revenues soar in the hotel and restaurant businesses. For nearly a week, Coimbra was a true capital of the country,” he elaborated.

In his speech before the start of the ordinary session at Coimbra council, which happened at Convento São Francisco, the mayor announced some results of the economic impact survey produced by Coimbra Business School/Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration Coimbra (CBS/ISCAC).

According to the study, the four concerts by the Chris Martin-led band, held at the Coimbra City Stadium between May 17th and 21st, reached a total spending of €36 million, with 180,14€ spent by a person on average and 200 000 people spectating.

The data used for this study centred on surveys in the vicinity of the concerts, as well as the ease off form accessibility (through the QR code) next to hotels in the city, and statistics provided by the Interbank Services Society (SIBS) and UNICRE – Financial Credit Institution, SA.

As far as spectator numbers are concerned, in both absolute and relative terms the study concludes that “spectators spent an average of 180.14€”

“Some variability in terms of district origin” was recorded, “with a minimum of 107,94€ for spectators from the district of Coimbra and of 349,55€ for those coming from Bragança, which is easily explained by geographic distance.”

According to the study, “the spectators who stayed the night spent double the amount of those who didn’t.”

Relatively to “use of restauration services,” it was found that “those making use of restaurant services present a spending level 55% greater than that of those who don’t.”

Through the SIBS-provided data analysis, it can be concluded that “the number of operations on the SIBS network increased” by 20.52% comparatively to the same week from a year before.

As for the UNICRE values, “a noticed growth has been recorded in the concert week in comparison with the same week in 2022 and, both in number (15.63%) and transaction volume online (8.37%).”

“This growth is particularly expressed in the sectors of hotels and restaurants, respectively at 34.64% and 52.94% in reference to volume of transactions,” the study concludes.