Economic impact of equestrian events, examples from France

In France, equestrian sports and leisure have been growing since the 1990s. Consequently the number of equestrian sporting events has multiplied. In this context, we wonder in what ways these events could participate in local economic development. To answer this question, we built a research program aiming at analysing economic, social and environmental impacts, in the short and long run, of different kinds of equestrian sporting events. Our first results are presented here and focus on the economic impact of small to medium size events. Using economic base theory, we studied the economic effects of six sporting equestrian events which took place in various French regions. The total economic impact of these events for the county has always been evaluated as higher than the organizational budget. Our results highlight the role of these small to medium size events for rural development of local areas and can lead to recommendations to improve economic impact of equestrian sporting events.