Music festivals deliver £431m economy boost
GLASGOW music festivals including TRNSMT and Summer Sessions helped generate £431million for the Scottish economy last year and supported 4300 jobs, new figures reveal.
Scotland saw the strongest growth of music tourism in the UK, rising from 800,000 visitors in 2017 to 1.1 million in 2018, a jump of 38%.
Only London, the South East and North West of England actually brought more visitors to the country.
New festivals such as Summer Sessions, which is held in both Glasgow and Edinburgh, were credited with helping to attract growing numbers north of the border.
Visitors spent £431m in Scotland on tickets, merchandise, drinks, food and accommodation, as well as indirect spending, such as costs created by organisers in running events.
The statistics were released in a report by UK Music, an umbrella organisation for the industry.
The total contribution to the UK economy from the music industry was £5.2billion, with 190,935 jobs credited, the report revealed.
A spokesperson for UK Music said: “Although Glastonbury Festival did not take place in 2018 when the data for the report was collected, the rise in the number of other festivals across the UK, particularly in Scotland, such as TRNSMT and Sunday Sessions, boosted the numbers.
Glasgow has launched a number of new music festivals in recent years including the Summer Nights festival at Kelvingrove Bandstand, which has hosted artists including Tom Jones, Burt Bacharach and the Pixies.
TRNSMT has replaced T in the Park as the main pop and rock music festival in Scotland with last year’s line-up featuring Stormzy, Gerry Cinnamon, Catfish & the Bottlemen,
Bastille and George Ezra.
Fiona Shepherd, of Glasgow Music Tours, said: “It’s very encouraging to read these healthy figures on music tourism, but it only confirms what we already know at Glasgow Music City Tours – that following live music is a great excuse to travel and sample other cities, countries and cultures.
“Only last week, we guided a visitor from Australia who had come to the UK specifically to check out a host of different bands playing across the country – she clocked up
11 gigs in 10 locations in 14 days.”
But the report warned that there is an “urgent need” for more investment and said Brexit could have an impact on the UK’s touring artists.
A GLASGOW car retailer has announced plans to provide 12 months free electricity to anyone who buys a plug-in hybrid Volvo in the next six months.
Taggarts Volvo at Hillington Park wants to reward drivers by paying for the electricity used to charge their car for a year.
The offer is available on the entire Volvo range, including the multi-award-winning XC40 premium compact SUV.
It is part of the company’s commitment to becoming a global carbon-neutral business by 2040.
LEWIS Capaldi has received his first Grammy nomination in a year dominated by rising stars Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X.
The star received a songwriting nod for his breakthrough hit Someone You Loved, which has topped the charts in both the UK and the US, along with co-writers Tom Barnes, Pete Kelleher, Benjamin Kohn and Sam Roman.
Capaldi reached No1 last month after 24 weeks, making him the first Scottish artist to achieve the US chart feat in nearly 40 years.