Please see preceding page for stories posted earlier today, 10/2, including the full translation of the Holy Father's remarks after the concert last night.
Strange to find this necessary and essential wrap-up of the Pope's visit in an Irish newspaper, of all places (a belated post on my part). An essential wrap-up because it takes into account the immediate material benefits of a papal visit to the host country, especially the host cities - an aspect that I do not recall having been adequately reported, if it was noted at all by media, in the Pope's previous trips.... The figures cited in this article underscore even more emphatically the egregious failure of the anti-Pope, anti-Church legions to downgrade the visit in any way!
Cities hail Pope’s visit a huge success
in terms of goodwill and commerce
By ELAINE SHERIDAN
Sept. 30, 2010
POPE BENEDICT XVI’s four-day visit to Britain was hailed a tremendous success after nearly half-a-million people turned out to see him in the flesh.
But there was also millions made by businesses across the country as a result of the first ever State visit here by a Pope.
Planes, trains, boats and automobiles brought pilgrims from far and wide to see the Holy Father in Scotland, the West Midlands and London during the momentous trip.
And the impact of the historic visit not only had a lasting spiritual effect on those places but economically it brought financial success to groups including hotels, restaurants, bars, retail outlets and travel companies.
Birmingham Chamber of Commerce spokesman John Lamb said the visit was immense — bringing an estimated £12.5million to the city.
He said: “The impact of the visit was immeasurable. It goes beyond pounds and pence, it’s a lot more than that. The global exposure that we got was priceless and the monetary value will be outweighed by the goodwill.”
Graham Bell, spokesperson for the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, echoed those sentiments, saying: “Before the visit there was considerable negative press in Britain. The reality is that the Pope absolutely charmed people when he got here and admitted his own preconceptions had moved on.
“Economically the State visit was very welcome. It shut Edinburgh for the day but I heard very little grumblings about that. But what the visit did do was show Edinburgh as Scotland’s capital on the world-wide stage. Millions of pounds in revenue were made by various organisations in the city and the place was absolutely heaving.”
He added: “It’s very difficult to calculate just now but we’re definitely not out of pocket from the visit, even though £4million was spent on the day — the benefits outweighed everything.”
Hotels were booked to capacity for the event and restaurants welcomed extra bookings over the four days.
Derek McDonagh from Jury’s Inn on Broad Street, Birmingham said the hotel did have increased bookings, with many travelling over from Ireland for the occasion.
He said: “We did indeed have a very successful weekend and some of this can be related directly to the Pope’s visit. I have seen a notable increase in Irish visitors and a lot of them were very excited about the Pope’s visit, in particular the children, which was great to see.”
And ferry company Stenaline said numbers were up on its northern route, with passengers travelling from Belfast to Stranraer to see the Holy Father on the Scottish leg of the tour.
Although official merchandisers would not comment on figures, it is estimated tens of thousands of pounds in revenue was made selling all sorts of memorabilia including candles, mugs, flags, T-shirts, cups and commemorative programmes to the masses.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 02/10/2010 20:47]