TITP Brings In $25M - Pollstar News

This year Scotland’s T In The Park festival was worth about £15.4 million ($25 million) to the local economy, according to a survey by an economic and social research consultancy.

Photo: Courtesy T In The Park

The figures from EKOS show the money benefiting the area around Balado has gone up 60 percent since its last survey in 2011. It’s close to double the 2005 figure.

The festival reckons part of the reason for the increase is the rise in the average per-head spending caused by more visitors coming from outside Scotland. It was 11 percent of the crowd in 2011, and 20 percent at this year’s fest.

A separate recent survey named T in the Park as the second-most desirable music festival to visit in the UK, just behind Glastonbury.

It regularly does 80,000 per day and this year sold out its 85,000 capacity just as the festival was opening. The lineup included Pharrell Williams, Elbow, Pixies, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, and Bastille.

Although the festival is leaving Balado after 18 years and moving to a new site at Strathallan Castle, the two are only 20 minutes apart and the Perth & Kinross region will still benefit from the extra trade the festival-goers bring.

“Music tourism is a crucial economic driver for both Scotland and the UK as a whole,” says TITP chief Geoff Ellis. “It’s easy to deduce that T in the Park is the biggest driver for music tourism in Scotland.”