UK Music reveal 19.2 million music tourists travelled to UK events in 2023

UK Music unveils new research into the value of gigs, concerts and festivals to local economies.

A total of 19.2 million music fans travelled from UK towns and cities and overseas in 2023 to see UK shows from the likes of Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Harry Styles and Blur, and festivals like Glastonbury, Boomtown and TRNSMT.

UK Music research reveals:

• Total number of music tourists attending live music events across the UK in 2023 was 19.2 million – an increase of 33% on 2022 when the figure was 14.4 million. 
• Total music tourism spending in 2023 was £8 billion – an increase of 21% on 2022 when the figure was £6.6 billion.
• Total employment sustained by music tourism in 2023 was 62,000, which is an increase of 17% on 2022 when the figure was 53,000.
• Total number of foreign music tourists in 2023 was 1.014 million, which is a slight drop from 1.053 million in 2022. 
• Total number of domestic music tourists in 2023 was 18.2 million, which is an increase of 36% on 2022 when the total was 13.3 million. 

A foreign music tourist is someone who has travelled from outside of the UK to attend an event in the UK. A domestic music tourist is defined as those who are travelling from within the UK to see live music events, provided they travelled more than three times an average commute for that region.

Music tourism is a growing part of the music industry. London saw a 40% rise in music tourists from 4.9 million in 2022, to 6.9 million in 2023.

This growth is not just limited to London, with an 86% increase in music tourists to the South West, rising from 1 million in 2022, to 2 million in 2023. There was a 29% increase of music tourists in the North East, from 352,000 in 2022 to 489,000 in 2023.

Read more here.