Blur and Beyoncé help UK music tourism climb to all-time high

Posted On July 23, 2024July 23, 2024

A new study by UK Music has discovered that music tourism across the United Kingdom reached a new high in 2023 after growing by more than 20 per cent, thanks partly to Blur and Beyoncé.

The overall music tourist metric combines domestic tourist and foreign tourist. While the latter means that somebody has travelled from overseas to attend an event in the United Kingdom, the definition of domestic tourist relates to if a person has travelled more than three times the standard commute for that area in order to go to a concert.

In 2023, the total number of music tourists attending live music events across the UK rose to 19.2 million, which is an increase of 33 per cent compared to the 2022 figure of 14.4 million. The complete number of foreign music tourists in 2023 was 1.014 million, which was a slight decline on 2022, but this was compensated by the increase in domestic music tourism.

The amount of domestic music tourists grew by 36 per cent to 18.2 million, which is a sharp uptake from the 13.3 million during the previous year. As a result, music tourism spending in 2023 increased to £8 billion compared with £6.6 billion in 2022, a rise of 21 per cent.

During 2023, stadium shows by Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Arctic Monkeys and Blur were among the highlights in the British music calendar, which helped attract millions of people to attend concerts across the country.

Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, said of the celebratory news: “The UK’s thriving music industry continues to be one of our most powerful global exports and an important driver of economic growth. In towns and cities across the country, the music industry provides entertainment, employment and inspiration to millions.

The Labour MP continued: “This Government will work hard to ensure our creative industries get the support they need to flourish, driving opportunity and economic growth into every community and inspiring the next generation of performers.”

While the figure for 2024 remains unknown, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour sold-out eight nights at London’s Wembley Stadium alone, which has a capacity of 90,000. Swift also performed to huge crowds in Liverpool and Edinburgh. Therefore, thanks to the biggest pop star in the world, there’s a strong chance that the music tourism industry will grow even further this year.

Although UK Music’s chief executive Tom Kiehl is pleased with the conclusion of the report, he also knows there is work to be done to ensure grassroots venues survive in order to produce the next wave of stadium acts, noting, “Grassroots music venues and festivals, studios and rehearsal spaces are facing tough economic pressures and it’s vital that the music ecosystem that enables musicians and artists to perform is supported to ensure that everyone – no matter where they live – can have access to music.”

Kiehl added: “We’re looking forward to working with the new Government to ensure that all our towns and cities have thriving music ecosystems that support the growth of the industry – generating thousands more jobs, boosting economic growth and making their areas even more attractive to visitors.”

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