This is Menton’s flagship event. And yet, its economic impact on the territory had never been seriously quantified… Until now. For the first time this year, the City commissioned a study to more concretely measure the impact of the event on the municipality. And the surprise is huge. This 89th edition would have brought in between 60 and 70 million euros!
Figures well beyond the expectations of the municipality. “Until now, we made estimates with a wet finger, without any scientific basis, and the range announced was often around 15 to 20 million euros… These results are excellent news. That is to say the importance of this event!”reacted the first deputy Christian Tudès, after the evocation of this study in the municipal council.
The free access of the Biovès gardens hailed
“I have always said that if we were forced to cancel it, or if we were faced with weather or other elements preventing us from taking place, we would be – all economic operators in Menton – in an extremely difficult situation… “
The full report should be available within a few weeks. “It’s very interesting, especially for the people of Menton, to see what wealth this Festival produces for the local economic fabric. I also hope that this will put an end to the debate on free Biovès gardens. I think you have the answer “concluded the elected.
In addition to free access to the Biovès gardens, several factors can explain the success of this 89th edition on the theme “Rock & Opera”: resumption of post-Covid outings, original circuit found for the ten citrus floats, reinforcement of communication on European markets by the tourist office… After three years of cancellations or modifications due to the health crisis, the challenge for the City was to revive the event.
Bet won, if the numbers are to be believed. With more than 100,000 spectators recorded over the 15 days of festivities, this 89th edition recorded the best attendance figure in the history of the Festival. The previous record was 95,000 admissions, in 2004, for the 71st edition on the theme “Walt Disney Studio”. By way of comparison, in 2022, the 88th edition with gauges and a restricted course had 55,000 entries.
With prices for corsos up slightly this year, seat sales thus amounted to 1.8 million euros.
“But it’s not just that. It’s all the attraction of the event that is taken into account in this study on the economic benefits: how many people were present at the destination, how much they spent… On average , we know that a tourist in Menton will spend between 80 and 120 euros, and that a person staying will consume around 140 euros per day”, details the tourist office, without being able to say more, for the time being. Work meetings must still take place to analyze the entire study.
A “breath of economic air”
As for merchants and hoteliers, the conclusion is unanimous: this year marked a strong comeback of the “true” Lemon Festival.
“We had an exceptional edition with very good occupancy rates and high average prices. We can only be delighted with these figures which confirm the importance of this event for us”comments Thomas Laurenti, the president of the union of hoteliers-restaurateurs of Menton. “Without the Lemon Festival, it would be very difficult for us to stay open all year round. It’s a breath of economic air in February, which allows us to start the season relatively early, without having to wait until April. or May. “
Laure Ippolito, the president of the association of Menton Sourire traders opines: “This year, there were a lot of people, that’s for sure. The traders were very happy, I had very positive feedback throughout the city, not just the hypercentre, and in all areas, whether either textiles, souvenirs, ice cream parlors…”.