Let’s Celebrate 2017: The Cultural and Economic Contribution of Live Entertainment Events in Ireland

Executive Summary

Quantifying the economic and cultural impact of live entertainment in Ireland for the first time, this work is a ground-breaking independent piece of research. It has taken eighteen months to come to fruition and has involved high level contributions from across the live events industry in Ireland.

The purpose of the project is designed to gain the public's recognition and support for Ireland's live entertainment industry and in particular its artists, musicians, performers and the supporting industry as a whole: to provide the industry with a snap-shot-in-time benchmark document against which the sector can be measured, and which is designed to benefit the overall industry and also to provide an important credible educational tool for Colleges, Universities, Research Bodies etc. to use.

Let's Celebrate was conceived, written and co-ordinated by Justin Green/Wide Awake Communications, Dublin-based consultants. The research applies the economic and cultural assessment methodologies (pages 46 & 47) of London based International Economists BOP Consulting, to extensive Ticketmaster data, and a large-scale and in-depth research survey of attendee responses at Ticketmaster events (5,764 respondents). It assesses the impact of a range of different live entertainment genres, music, arts, theatre and comedy and family, attractions and exhibitions. It also breaks down the impact of these genres geographically, considering their impacts upon Dublin, the rest of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, while providing a number of case studies on live entertainment across the Island of Ireland.

The study analyses the twelve months of events taking place between 1st March 2015 and 29th February 2016. During this period, over 4 million people attended Ticketmaster events in the Island of Ireland. This attendance generated €1.7 billion of net additional revenue and €669 million of net additional Gross Value Added (GVA). This is only the money that would not otherwise have been generated had the events not gone ahead. These figures take into account the spending by attendees as part of their trips (food, drink, merchandise, accommodation, transport) and the impact upon relevant supply chains of this spending by attendees. An estimated 3.7 million+ bed-nights were generated by these trips with 433,666 attendees coming from outside the Republic of Ireland. For every single €1 spent on a ticket, an additional €6.06 of revenue is generated within the rest of the economy.

Live entertainment therefore, is an essential part of Ireland's economy and tourist sector, which is powered by the international appeal of Ireland's cultural richness and the unique warmth and enthusiasm of Irish audiences. Our research found that almost all attendees at live entertainment events in Ireland would recommend attendance to their friends and family. Live music goers gave an average mark of 8.8 out of 10 for the quality of the event(s) they attended and 78% of tourists confirmed the live entertainment scene in Ireland makes them more likely to re-visit. The cultural strength of Ireland drives the willingness to purchase tickets, which in turn makes live entertainment such a vital facilitator of tourism and economic growth in Ireland.

Download the report to read on:
Let's Celebrate 2017 (PDF)

Visit the Let's Celebrate website to find out more about the project.