Portugal to obtain little from Euro 2004: study

The European soccer championship (Euro 2004) hosts Portugal will have only a limited benefit on the economy from the on-going tournament, despite thousands of visitors to the country, a finance ministry study released Thursday declared.

The study said the extra tourism revenue will create a 2.5 percent rise in tourism revenues over the previous year but will add only 0.08 percent to Portugal's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004.

It estimates at least 211,000 extra visitors will travel to the country during the championship. They will spend an average of four nights in Portugal and will generate some 112 million euros (135 million U.S dollars) in tourist revenues.

source: Xinhua