Next month's Punchestown festival will have almost 2.3 million available in prize-money but the organisers believe it will be worth a lot more than that to the economy.

An economic impact report on last year's festival carried out by NUI, Maynooth, estimates that the four-day festival generated almost 43 million.

The study, which was released yesterday by Horse Racing Ireland chairman Denis Brosnan and the Minister for Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue, calculates that the festival had a direct economic effect of 32.9 million.

Of that, a total of 7.6 million came on course but off-course income generated by accommodation and entertainment came to 17.8 million. A further 7.5 million was spent on travel and what is termed "subsistence." The final figure of nearly 43 million was reached by adding an additional 10 million for indirect effects on the economy.

Minister John O'Donoghue said: "The report underlines the significance of horse racing economically and as a tourist attraction in Ireland.

"Wearing my tourism hat, I note that 20 per cent of the people attending come from overseas. If this trend continues it won't be long before Punchestown becomes an Irish Cheltenham."

The 2006 festival will take place between April 25th-28th.