Report into the impact of folk festivals on cultural tourism – Morris Hargreaves MacIntyre (2003)
Author: Morris Hargreaves MacIntyre
Organisation: Association of Festival Organisers
Source: January 2003
UK folk festivals generate spending of over £77 million each year. There are now over 350 folk festivals in the UK. Between them they attract over 350,000 attendances from 106,000 people, each of whom attends an average of 3.3 folk festivals per year. Festivals help sustain the folk industry, providing performance opportunities for artists, employing support staff and providing a marketplace for a wide range of goods, from CDs to musical instruments. But more than that, they stimulate the local economy. The festivals rely on goods and services supplied locally, and festival attenders spend significant amounts of money locally on food, drink, accommodation and other purchases.