The Cost of World Youth Day

to the beleaguered Spanish economy was...oh, wait...Excerpts:

This story suggests that a great deal of the WYD expenses (70-80%) were covered by donations from Catholic parishes and dioceses in Spain, and the remainder from corporate sponsorship (mostly Catholic organizations).

Furthermore, the two million pilgrims spent a great deal of their own money while in Spain. The head of Madrid’s chamber of commerce estimates that World Youth Day events brought at least 160 million euros (=230 million dollars) into the Spanish economy...

Frankly I think that estimate is still low — if the average pilgrim spent $300 while in Spain (that’s getting by pretty cheap) the total windfall to the Spanish economy would be over $600 million.

Plus, nearly all the reports I’ve read which comment on the question note that the pilgrims were particularly neat and tidy. Soccer hooligans trash cities, pilgrims respect them.

So Spain, you’re welcome. Two million tidy, paying customers...

Funny how that works out.