About 6.5 million music loving tourists attended a festival or gig last year in the UK, generating a spend of £2.2 billion ($3.5 billion), said a report.

The report released this month, by UK Music and VisitBritain, looked into the size of the music tourism industry. It was entitled ‘Wish You Were Here.’

The study revealed that tourists at live music events also offered regional tourism benefits like motivating Britain-wide travel and at least 24,000 jobs each year.
 
The report demonstrated the pulling power of live music and its potential to fuel tourism throughout the country. VisitBritain’s ambition is to attract a total of 40 million overseas visitors by 2020, which music tourism will look to contribute more to over the coming years, it said.

It revealed that direct spend by music tourists – buying tickets, paying for transport and accommodation – was worth £1.3 billion, while indirect spend - additional spending along the supply chain generated by music tourists – added a further £914 million.

The average live music audience comprised 41 per cent music tourists. Overseas music tourists spend an average of £910 while attending festivals and £602 while attending concerts, as compared to domestic music tourists who spend £396 for festivals and £87 for concerts on average.

Overseas tourists account for 6 per cent of music tourism visits but a huge 20 per cent of music tourism spend.

London attracts 28 per cent of all music tourists to the UK, with 1.8 million visiting the capital.

In addition to calling for an overarching strategy to encourage more music fans from overseas, the report also suggests towns and cities should promote themselves by making more of their musical heritage – as Liverpool already does with The Beatles.

It also recommends developing and extending the Music is GREAT component of VisitBritain’s already successful GREAT Britain You’re Invited campaign.

VisitBritain CEO Sandie Dawe said: “This report confirms that the UK’s music scene has significant international appeal and that music tourists spend lots of money and travel across the whole of Britain. This will act as a catalyst for us all to ramp up our activity and forge better relationships with festival organisers, promoters, venues and producers to raise awareness of our amazing music scene across the world.”

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey MP said: “Music is without question an essential element of Britain’s tourism appeal, and it is this ability of the UK’s music industry to attract tourists from near and far to our shores that is celebrated in this report. The huge financial contribution to the UK economy by the millions of music tourists to the UK annually makes it very clear that when combined, the music and tourism industries are powerful drivers for growth.” - TradeArabia News Service