UK Music have published an excellent report on Music tourism: Wish you Were Here
This follows their groundbreaking last report in 2011, Destination: Music—the Contribution of Music Festivals & Major Concerts to Tourism in the Uk
The main messages are:
We’ve uncovered a hidden gem. Music tourism has never been properly studied before.
Groundbreaking research. Unprecedented access to data – to give us the most comprehensive picture ever of live music and tourism.
Significance of music tourism to economy reaching highest levels – from Prime Minister to House of Lords debate to new partnerships with tourism authorities.
They are calling for an overarching music tourism strategy to maximise potential.
The Main Statistics are:
UK Music counted 6.5 million music tourists in 2012.
On average, 41% of the population at live music events is comprised of music tourists.
Music tourism is generating £2.2 billion in spending overall.
£1.3 billion of that is spent directly by music tourists themselves,
Their presence stimulates a further £914 million in spending further down the supply chain.
Music tourism is sustaining 24,251 jobs overall.
16,135 of those jobs exist as a direct result of music tourism
a further 8,115 jobs were created further down the supply chain as a result of music tourism
These are “full-time equivalent” jobs – so if there are two part-time jobs of 20 hours a week, or 4 seasonal jobs each lasting 3 months, we count them as one FT job.
Music tourism contributes nearly a billion pounds (£934 million) to the nation’s wealth as measured by GDP
544 million as a direct result of music tourism
A further £390 million as a result of economic activity further down the supply chain.
Overseas music tourists comprised just 6% of the total music tourism population, but they accounted for 20% of total spending by music tourists. They’re like gold dust. Per capita, they each spend nearly a grand (£910) in the UK when they come here to attend music festivals, and nearly £400 (£396) when here to attend a gig. This includes spending at the live music event itself as well as what they spend over the course of their stay in the UK.
This is a great Report. It identifies the opportunities extremely well .
What we now need, as I said in Lord Storey’s debate in June, is for the Government to team up with VisitBritain,the Arts Council, the British Council the music industry, the tourism and hospitality industries and others to identify the “real levers and barriers” to growing music tourism at national level, in many cases red tape and do the necessary. We need a properly joined-up strategy, particularly in terms of reducing regulation
