The city of Rome was not only aware of the celebration of the conclave to choose the new Pope for romantic and religious reasons. It also supposes for the capital of Italy a business of millions of euros for a city to travel and where to stay already has one of the highest average prices in the transalpine country.
during the funeral of Pope Francis and the conclave to choose Leo XIV, hotels prices have shot. If the hotel night in Rome is no longer cheap, during these fifteen days its prices have been in some prohibitive cases. On average, a hotel night in Rome has exceeded 300 euros these days.
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The most expensive day was the night of April 25, which was the night before the Francisco funeral, when the rate exceeded 351 euros. And on the day of the funeral the night cost 336 euros, according to data from the agency Costa. That is the average of the city, because if we look for districts, in the center of the city the price reached 780 euros on average.
But despite those prices, the city was full of tourists. The data indicate that the occupation in these two weeks has exceeded 80%. And the hotels talk about 90% of their rooms occupied during the weekend of Francisco’s funeral. That is, hotels prices have not scared off tourism these days.
Flights also rise in price
Between April 21 and 29, the cost of flying from a Spanish airport to Rome has risen 38%, to 134 euros on average. And the climb is general: it affects both Low Cost airlines and traditional airlines. If we compare it with what cost us the same journey a year ago, we had to pay – in the function of the day – between 60 and 75% more.
And also here, just as it happened with the hotels, it is during the weekend of Francisco’s funeral when flying to Rome from a Spanish airport was more expensive. And this increase in costs is also not limited to hotels and airplanes, but also affects restaurants, stores and other businesses.
Millions of euros in bets about the new Pope
The betting houses have also moved a barbarity of money, because bets have been made to know who guessed, who was going to be the new Pope, what name was I going to choose, at what time of the conclave was going to be chosen, what nationality or what continent it would be …
The estimates that have been published speak that in the betting houses about 40 million dollars have moved in these bets linked to these days.
How much does it cost to organize a conclave?
The figures dance a lot and it is difficult to make estimates because it is true that sometimes the Vatican has communicated the cost, but others not.
When John Paul II died, the invoice paid by the Vatican for the funerals and the entire process that led to the election of Benedict XVI was about 8 million dollars. But that was 25 years ago.
In the next conclave, from which Pope Francis came out, what it cost was not communicated. The Vatican did not give figures and the only thing that is known is that the City Council of Rome – which assumes transportation and security expenses both in Rome and within the Vatican – spent 5 million dollars only in these items, in transport and security.
And that same amount – 5 million dollars – is the budget that we know that the Italian government has already approved for the security and logistics of this conclave.
