UK Music Festivals Drew 9.5 Million International Visitors in 2014
Summer has arrived, and with it, all those summer music festivals drawing millions of visitors from all over the world. Nowhere is this more evident than in the UK, where 9.5 million concert goers helped generate 3.1 billion British pounds ($4.8 billion) in revenue last year, according to figures released by UK Music on Tuesday. According to the report, more than half a million of those that attended UK music festivals in 2014 were international visitors, for an increase of 39 percent over the average number of overseas guests in the previous three years, and that’s just those visitors who traveled to attend a music festival. These international music fans spent an average of 751 pounds ($1,170) at the festivals, UK Music said. The influx has allowed the British music tourism sector to balloon 57 percent from 24,000 full-time employees in 2012 to more than 38,000 in 2014. UK Music’s report on music tourism also reported that 3.3 million tourists attended music events in the British capital of London last year, generating 663 million pounds, or about $1 billion, in total revenue.
