Music tourism generates £119m for region’s economy

MUSIC tourism was worth £119m to the West Midlands economy in 2012, with overseas music tourists contributing £15m to the total.
 
Music tourism is the act of visiting a city or town, to see a music festival or other music performances.
 
The Wish You Were Here report, by UK Music and Visit Britain, also shows that 50% of West Midlands concert audiences are music tourists – far higher than the national average of 41%.
 
Figures also show the region welcomed 809,000 music tourists in 2012, of which 24,000 were from abroad.

The figures help to explain why the Arenas arm of the NEC Group achieved record results last year. The Arenas and Ticket Factory business delivered an operating profit of £5.6m, up £1.9m (51%) on the previous year, the group revealed last month.

Concert numbers were said to have grown in a strong market for live music, which had a positive effect on the numbers of tickets sold by The Ticket Factory. Additionally, the Arenas’ result benefitted from further development of non-ticket revenues such as sponsorship.
 
Emma Gray, Director of Marketing Services at Visit Birmingham, the city’s leisure tourism programme, said: “Our region has always had a rich music heritage, with the likes of UB40, ELO and Black Sabbath; this report confirms we are not only a great place to enjoy live music, but that new acts such as Laura Mvula and Peace are ensuring the West Midlands is firmly on the UK music map.”
 
Nationally, the study identified that 6.5m music loving tourists attended a festival or gig last year, generating spend of £2.2bn in the process.

The study reveals that tourists at live music events not only add billions to the UK economy but offer significant regional tourism benefits, motivating Britain-wide travel. Music tourism also provides a massive boost to the national, regional and local economies, including at least 24,000 jobs each year.