Economic Boost from 2023 WUKF World Karate Championships
Dundee City Convention Bureau have released figures showing a Direct Economic Benefit of £9,594,630 (DEB) to the local economy from the hosting the 2023 World Union of Karate-Do Federations (WUKF) World Karate Championships for All Ages. The event was hosted by Kanzen Karate, working alongside Dundee City Council, Leisure and Culture Dundee and Dundee City Convention Bureau.
The figure has been calculated using the Direct Expenditure Benefit rates, recognised by the Scottish Government, and used by all the cities, destinations, and industries across Scotland.
This highly anticipated event brought together 4,470 individuals, including athletes, coaches, officials, and spectators, from 32 countries to Dundee Ice Arena. As the largest annual event on the WUKF calendar, the competition has previously been held in esteemed cities such as Fort Lauderdale, Bratislava, and Cluj-Napoca, with future host cities including Malmo and Monterrey. It is one of the largest participatory martial arts sporting events in the world. Held over 6 days in total, the event featured exciting competition, meetings, technical seminars, courses, a world congress and much more.
This is the second time Kanzen Karate have stepped up to host this event with the first instalment in 2018, with both events bringing economic benefit of £19.2 million.
On a competitive level, Kanzen delivered by achieving 4th place out of 62 federations in attendance.
Kanzen Karate Chief Officer, Roy O’Kane said: “It was an honour to bring the world of Karate to Dundee once again. The event was a phenomenal success and regarded as one of the best WUKF competitions. Hosting an event of this size and scale was only possible due to the support of civic partners, businesses, and the hard work of our team here at Kanzen. It shows once again that Dundee can do big thigs are we are proud Kanzen has played a part in welcoming so many visitors to our fantastic city for the second time. It was tremendous to see the city so busy with tracksuits from across the world; hotels, restaurants and bars were packed for the week.
“It was a real privilege to see our home-grown talent represent their club, city, and country on home turf. Kanzen is so much more than Karate, we are community of people committed to working across the community and I think hosting this event shows that work.”
Dundee City Council leader, Councillor John Alexander, said: “The 11th WUKF World Karate Championships were a tremendous success, and a credit to the organisers Kanzen Karate. Not only did the event bring together people from all over the world in elite sporting competition, but as this report shows it also generated millions of pounds for the local economy. The Council was proud to support the Championships, which demonstrated just what we can achieve when we work in partnership as a city. Events such as this have a significant economic and social impact, helping to make Dundee a vibrant and attractive city where residents and visitors enjoy an excellent quality of life.”
