Economic Impacts on Musical Festivals - Example

Student Name: Instructor’s Name: Title: Economic Impacts on Musical festivals Course: Institution: Economic impacts on musical festivals Introduction The number of musical festivals has greatly increased in the recent years. In fact, there are more than 200 music festivals taking place all over the UK. Though most are small, community-operated events, there are also many multi-million pounds events than ever. The five major musical festivals in UK include: The Big Chill, Latitude, Sonisphere, T in the park and the Isle of Wight. These are international much-admired music festivals that attract millions of music fans between them. Of course they are the pros and cons of conducting such events and the question is do they contribute to economic development? (Chris 2009). This report looks in details at the economic impact of these music festivals. It concludes by coming up with recommendations on how to maximize the potential benefits of these musical festivals. Economic Impact Musical festivals have a significant impact on the home economy. Musical festivals bring in millions of pounds in the home economy. Much of this money is generated by increasing the number of employees as well as the organizer’s utilization of local businesses to set up and operate the site. Conducting businesses between 25, 000 to 60,000 individuals over one weekend is able to boost income for shops, supermarkets, petrol stations and bars (National Music Council 2002). The major musical festivals in the UK attract more than 7.7 million attendants who include music tourist, overseas and local people combined. They spend a total of 1.4 billion pounds during their visit. This enormous music migration is boosting the UK’s economy with about 864 millions pounds and sustaining about 19,700 full time employments. The expenditure of music tourist can be divided into ticket expenditure, on-site expenditure and of-site expenditure. Off-site expenditure accounts for the largest share of expenditures. This implies that tourist’s pound is spread within the host area to the advantage of local hotels, restaurants and other suppliers of goods and services (UK Music 2012). There is a significant association between the economic impact on the area and the duration of the festival. This applies particularly for the Big Chill a festival that runs for four days. This is because it requires planning and taking days off work to attend and hence most people take it as a vacation instead of merely a music festival. Most people treat it as a holiday since four days seems like a good vacation. Eastnor Castle is an amazing site and there is wide range of programming to ensure that people have a vacation’s worth of activities to select from (Laing and York 2002). Moreover, the duration of the festival can significantly increase spending in the local economy. Rail fares, petrol, snacks, hotels, provisions are all purchased prior to the event. The positive economic impact on musical festivals is not only restricted to increase in passing trade. The festival organizers promote local supply of goods and services, local businesses and local contractors. Festival organizers are capable of outsourcing to the local area to fill in with every jobs required (Frontier Economic 2007). There is also a direct association between the size of a music festival and the impact it generates. The larger the size of the festival so is its potential audience, media reporting as well as potential expenditures and benefits. It has been estimated that the 2007 Glastonbury festival earned more than 73 millions pounds. A study done by the Mendip District Council has shown that the 177,500 festival-goers who came for last year Glastonbury festival each used an average of 293.24 pounds (Bakers Associates, 2007). The total expenditure at the event site in Pilton by the festival-goers and sellers was approximately 25.6 million pounds while off-site expenditure was approximately 26.5 million pounds. This gives a sum of about 52 million pounds spend directly during the event. The estimated expenditure linked to staging the 2007 festival was 21.2 million pounds (UK Music 2012). Not only big festivals like Glastonbury that are generating great economic benefits but also small festivals are impacting on local economies. For example, the Green Man Festivals that takes place on the Glanusk estate in Powys attracted 18, 000 audiences, (8% visited mainly to attend the event while 77% were from outside Wales. Currently, Green Man generates 3.5 million pounds in direct extra spending in the area and 4.5 million pounds from extra tourism spending. This festival has also enhanced the image of Wales as a calm place for spending a holiday in (UK Music 2012). Tourism industry Musical festivals boost the tourism industry. Hotel beds are filled to capacity during musical festivals. Despite the fact that camping is convenient, most people do not prefer it and hence local holiday lets, B&Bs as well as hotels experience increased trade. During the musical festivals the majority of visitors are more prone to treat the occasion as a holiday, particularly if they have to take time off work. Musical festivals that take longer like three or four days helps encourage many individuals to travel around outside the festival site, particularly if they are in a conventional tourist site like Suffolk or the South Coast (Gibson 2005). Musical festivals present potential as mediums for branding cities as well as villages since they are able of improving a destination’s image plus identity, enhancing perceptions of the place as well as the people that reside there. Musical festivals are annual tourist attractions (Shelland 2004). For example, Glastonbury is a world popular musical festival that attracts international media attention; although it causes great disruptions, it’s apparent the festival has placed the area on the map. Hence, we can say festivals lead to positive promotions of locations. For example, The Big Chill festival has made Eastmor Castle to be placed in the map while the Suffolk coast is in the map courtesy of Latitude (Long and Owen 2006). Millions of individuals have and will still be exposed to the Eastmor castle and its site. There are thousands of musical festivals being advertised every year and most have websites filled with information. Some include more information on the nearby area such as local history, must-visit sites, alternative lodgings and crucial local travel details. These websites have a link to the local tourist information sites. This method of promoting the local region to festivals-goers before they obtain tickets will highly raise their probability of them travelling around the area when they arrive. The regions that border Eastnor Castles such as Worcestershire also gains from the increased passing trade throughout the festivals (Krueger and Connolly 2005). The area of Perthshire where T in the Park festivals takes place possesses spectacular landscape, competitive golf courses plus whiskey distillers. As a result, it attracts a mix of discreet trainer party tourists, hikers, mountain climbers as well as adventure seekers. We can conclude that music festivals lead to increased awareness of the area as a tourism site, increased knowledge regarding the potential for investment plus business activity in the area, creation of new accommodations and tourist attractions as well as increase in accessibility (Travers et al. 1998). Employment creation Musical festivals sustain varied jobs and most are highly skilled. These employment opportunities range from niche event consumer foodstuffs to healthy snack food sellers to expert financial or technical services. As the number of musical festivals continue to rise up, so do the number of employees. Although festival organizers bring in their own management team, casual works on the location are given to local people. Local runners are employed who are supposed to go to local shops and services purchasing odds and ends that are required to put on the festivals. Food, particularly raw ingredients for the catering stalls are purchased from local producers when possible (The Performing Right Society 2000). Moreover, local shops services and entrepreneur are encouraged to take stalls. Musical festivals encourage entrepreneur as they present a chance to local businesses, both as temporary staff or traders. Moreover, festivals present ample money-making opportunities (The Association of Festival Organizers 2003). Cafes, bars as well as shops are some of the businesses that do well during such events through selling festival essentials such as wellington boots, alcoholic drink and umbrellas. For example, the Isle of Wight bus operator presents isle tours for festival-goers whereas local people who stay near the site sell vehicle parking spaces plus eleventh-hour supplies (Economic and Environmental Impact assessment 2008). For example, the Kaya festival promotes creative skills and job opportunities. The aim of organizers of this event is to develop the talent of the local youth. They are encouraging local youth to take part in the music business. Coleg Menai, Career Wales as well as other local training sources will, in the course of the event, provide apprenticeships, mentoring and on-site training in every features of management of a money-making music festival. Hence, Kaya festival is a perfect solution to the more increasing youth unemployment problem. Kaya festival will lead to development of more new creative entrepreneurs, (UK Music 2012). Development of the local area Musical festival organizers develop and improve local services that might be of importance to the festival arrangement. For example, during Glastonbury $ 21.2 million pounds is used on site hire, banking, local site works fuel purchases, medical services and accountancy in the local Mendip. This might not be money from conventional tourist activity; nevertheless it enhances the economy which develops the area as a whole. Also, since the Big chill festival began, four weddings have been held at the castle as an outcome of individuals either meeting or else getting betrothed at the festival. Moreover, The Big Chill festival-goers are becoming increasingly interested in the scenery and the surrounding area (Travers & Glaister 2004). Latitude has both direct and indirect positive impacts to the local economy. Directly hotels, shops, cottage rental, petrol stations, pubs all experience increased income during the festival period. Indirectly individuals are joyful to pop out to the coast in the dawn and travel around the local area. Hence, we can say Latitude as a musical festival boost both local tourism income and develops the profile of the area. Though it is hard to estimate how many individual come on holiday in this area as an outcome of the festival, the area as a whole is opened up for tourist as well as the most wealthy festival-goers. For example, week-long cottage rentals are becoming more common with individuals coming for good vacations out of the festival. It is obvious these individuals got money to use and are enthusiastic to travel around more than merely the festival location (Throsby 2002). The Big Chill organizers support community development. They give some of the money they collect to be used in local schools around Eastnor and Malvern. They also encourage the local people to participate in the event as much as possible. Furthermore, musical festivals generate a demand of fine arts in the local area as well as animating the local life. At times they help in improving the self-image of the local people. Furthermore, musical festivals promote development of infrastructures on the local site as a result of the economic wellness as well as increased income flows that revert directly in the people. Thought the association with the local people is not always great since some troubles have been identified during assessment and measuring of the impacts on the local people. Generally, musical festivals have positive economic impacts that help in the development of the local area by raising tourist demand and as a result, the increase of money flow (Shaw and Allen 2001). Image enhancement Music festivals attract university level people, middle class individuals and families. Those individuals who used to attend the festivals in the 1980s are currently coming back with their children. The music festivals regions have received positive publicity and as result co-sponsors of the events are not only championing for the festival but also the local region as a whole (The Performing Right Society, 2000). The Isle of Wight Festival location gives individuals the opportunity to stroll into the city, get a meal, a drink as well as stock up in the shops and supermarkets. Landlords have also set p stalls along the road to the festival, rent vehicle parking spaces as well as turn area into an impromptu market. Apart form generating additional income; this has also made it possible for the local people and visitors to get to know each other on a personal basis (Chon 1991). Moreover, musical festivals have become an attraction that dynamise the regions that they take place in. They make the place to be put on the tourism map and hence open doors to various target markets. They are perceived as instrument to enhance the social status of the local people that accommodate them. Moreover, musical festivals have lead to image enhancement of the local people as well as region enhancement. Festivals-goers do not only appreciate the characteristics of the festival but also the popular culture of the local people that is present in most of them. A study carried out shows that festivals boost the number of tourists as well as exposes the area to the media in a logical manner (Anderson and Getz 2008a). Hence, to enhance good image formation festival organizer should control aspect like the quality of information and the advertising efforts. However, it is important to note that festival organizers cannot be able to control all characteristics affecting the creation of the image. For example, the organizers cannot be able to control bad weather, accidents, and acts of god among others. For Instance, the Glastonbury festival is took a break in 2012 due to bad weather. Though most music festivals have positive economic impacts, it is important to note that some events have negative impacts. For example, increase in prices and real estate speculations are there on the region where they were not there prior to the festival and underutilized infrastructure. Other negative impacts include environmental destruction and unmanageable overcrowding (Reeves 2002). Conclusions and Recommendations This paper has established that musical festival have positive and significant economic impacts. Musical festivals have lead to a blossom vibrant UK’s economy. Revenues from music festivals have significantly increased. The appetite for UK’s music is quite high in other part of the world. This means that the UK is sitting on a national talent of enormous value. However, the prospect of increase in music created tourism is not guaranteed as the National Arena Association lately reported a major decrease in the number of festival-goers at music stadium events in 2010. Hence, it is important for festival directors as well as organizers to come up with a national strategy that can unleash the full potential of music festivals to contribute to greater positive economic impacts. They aim should be to make music fan all over the world to choose the UK as the most preferred destination for musical festival. More should be done to attract more music tourist like constructing more tourist attractions sites and hotels. An all-inclusive music tourism map application must be designed that can assist prospective tourists design their own musical tour to accommodate all musical taste, including iconic places, histories as well as opportunities to attend live music festivals. The government should create a music festival tourism strategy to increase the number of attendants in UK and deal with issues like visas for out of the country performers as well as the secondary ticketing market. Bibliography Anderson, T.D. and Getz, D. 2008a. Stakeholders Management Strategies of Festivals. Journal of Convention and Event Tourism, 9(3), pp.199-220. Bakers Associates, 2007. Economic Impact of Glastonbury festival. Chris, H. 2009. Does Music Festival Contribute to Local Tourism? Chon, K.S. 1991. Tourism destination image modification process. Marketing Implications. Tourism management, 12 (1), pp.68-72. Economic and Environmental Impact assessment, 2008. Isle of Wight Music Festival. Frontier Economic (2007). 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