You're reading: Lviv mayor: Lviv, Ukraine to benefit from Euro 2012 in future

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy has said that the Euro 2012 European Football Championship will in future bring profits to the city and the state in general.

"According to the international company Monitor Group, each tourist spends $410 in Lviv. Let’scalculate: one million tourists visited the city in 2010, and we hosted even more of them in 2011. Now we are expecting a serious increase in tourist flow in 2012-2014. [They will bring] assets that will be transferred to the national and city budgets," the mayor said in an interview with the Ukraine 2012 Information Centre.

Sadovy also said that Euro 2012 is not a project that will immediately bring Hr 2-3 for every Hr 1 invested today. According to him, Ukraine will feel its financial effects in several years.

"First of all, the successful promotion of the city is a significant profit from the project today. Thanks to Euro 2012, people in the world know about Lviv, and the number of tourists noticeably grew after the city received the right to host the European championship. And recently Lviv was declared one of ten most attractive cities of the future in Europe," the mayor said.

Sadovy added that Lviv will have a modern airport, a new stadium, European quality roads, and its old utilities will be replaced due to Euro 2012.

"Their replacement is not only an issue of comfort, it is also an issue of Lviv residents’ safety. [The old] utilities could have collapsed and paralyzed the city at any time," the mayor said.