The Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán attracts visitors

The Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán tourist attraction welcomes a record number of visitors and brings significant profits to Sevilla FC

At Sevilla FC’s stadium, more than 50,000 people visited the tour during the 2022/23 campaign.

(Football News) Sevilla FC is a club that keeps growing at a dizzying pace, with a clear example of this being the fact that the ‘Stadium Tour’, the name for the leisure experience in which you can check out the most emblematic areas of the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, keeps recording greater and greater visitor numbers.

The most iconic parts of this stadium, one of the most legendary in Spanish football, are: the museum, which boasts seven UEFA Europa League trophies, making it a unique place in the world; the dressing room, which is the area where the players change; the tunnel leading to the pitch, where the Centenary Anthem composed by El Arrebato is played to allow visitors to feel like one of the players; the stadium’s dugouts; and the mosaic on the façade of the Preferencia Stand. All of these factors combine to make this experience one of the most visited tourist attractions in the city of Seville.

The number of visitors to the ‘Stadium Tour’ has been growing progressively since the return to post-pandemic normality. The figure was 27,200 in the 2021/22 season, before the following campaign Sevilla FC welcomed more than 50,000 people, from tourists to local fans, for the tour of the most iconic parts of the Ramón Sanchez-Pizjuán. That represents a growth of 43.1%, exceeding expectations and achieving a record. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the figure was at 34,000 people visiting the stadium in the Nervión district.

Moreover, according to Los Blanquirrojos, the number of visitors in July and August also increased by 58% compared to the previous year, with almost 400 visitors per day. That early data points to a further increase for the 2023/24 season. This evolution has undoubtedly been helped by the winning of a seventh UEFA Europa League at the end of May, which helped make Sevilla FC’s ground one of the most famous, and most visited, stadiums in modern football.

Keen to promote visits to the ‘Stadium Tour’, Sevilla FC secured important agreements with tourist agencies and ticket sales companies, while the club also carried out advertising campaigns aimed at tourists themselves. It is also worth noting that the club has kept the price of the experience unchanged over the last few seasons (at 10 euros) and that it can be visited from Thursdays to Sundays, except on matchdays and pre-matchdays. Furthermore, Sevilla FC announced a series of improvements that will come in 2024 and further increase the quality of the experience for visitors.

At Sevilla FC, they are aware that there is an important gap in the market for attracting tourists, who are increasingly interested in football. With that in mind, they set to work with travel agencies and ticket sales companies to promote the ‘Stadium Tour’ and to highlight the visitor experience. As Sevilla FC vice-president José María del Nido Carrasco pointed out. “We are not a museum as such, it’s more than that. This is a leisure and experience tour and we have focused on the tourism that flocks to Seville.

Sevilla FC is probably the best ambassador the city has, as the club is known in almost every corner of the world and can offer an experience that goes beyond attending a football match. By working with tour operators and tourist agencies, we can reach groups who come and visit the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán just like they would any other landmark of interest in the city. In fact, certain specialist publications already include it among the recommendations of places to visit. We also have collaborations with companies that specialise in ticket sales and advertising campaigns. We must keep in mind our sporting successes, but the excellent figures for the 2022/23 season were being recorded even before winning our seventh Europa League.”

The club’s aim is to make the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán a stadium that can generate revenue 365 days a year, not only through LALIGA EA SPORTS matches or other competitions, which they consider vital to continue growing. Vice-president José María del Nido Carrasco added: “Sevilla FC’s intention for some time now has been to open up new avenues of non-sporting income and, in the case of the ‘Stadium Tour’, we are achieving this. Our plan is to have a stadium that has activity and that generates income 365 days a year. The turnover from the ‘Stadium Tour’ has grown in the last season by more than 43% and we have forecasts for another 25% for the 2023/24 season.”

As for assessing which are the most emblematic parts of the ‘Stadium Tour’, the director explained that tastes varied according to age and origin. The Sevilla FC vice-president José María del Nido Carrasco concluded: “Depending on the profile of the visitor, tastes change. Those who are more interested in football, for example, really enjoy the experience of stepping out to the pitch through the same tunnel as the players and listening to the famous Centenary Anthem in the background.

The younger visitors are fascinated by sitting in the same dressing room as their idols. Foreign visitors are really interested in the historical nature of Sevilla FC and they enjoy seeing the collection of old artefacts. As for the photos being taken during the tour, it’s as you’d imagine: photos of the seven Europa League trophies and photos of the stands from the sidelines. This atmospheric stadium is famous around the world.”