Nearly a million tourists visit Scotland to hear live music

Nearly a million tourists visited Scotland last year to hear live music, according to a new report.

The Wish You Were Here 2016 study found that 928,000 tourists visited Scotland in 2015 to attend a live concert or music festival.

It calculates that music tourism was worth £295m to the Scottish economy in 2015 and helped to sustain 3,230 jobs.

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The report also highlights the value of music tourism to Glasgow and looked at the economic and cultural impact of live music and music tourism to the city.

Last year 1.4m people attended music events in Glasgow, including 449,000 music tourists who generated £105m of revenue for the city.

Alison Thewliss, SNP MP for Glasgow Central, said: “Glasgow has been recognised by UNESCO as a City of Music, and we are lucky to have a wealth of venues including the Barrowlands and King Tuts, to the City Halls and the Royal Concert Hall, the SECC and the Hydro. 

“Glasgow is also growing musical talent and reaching out to the world through the efforts of The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

“Last year alone, almost half a million music tourists came to Glasgow, providing over 1100 jobs for local people and a boost of over £100 million to the city’s economy.”

This is the second edition of the report, which was carried out by economic analysts Oxford Economics on behalf of UK Music, an umbrella organisation that represents the UK’s commercial music industry.

UK Music chief executive Jo Dipple said: “The appetite for live music has continued to grow. Last year overseas music tourism increased by 16 per cent, whilst British music events were attended by a staggering 27.7 million people in 2015.

“What this report shows, unequivocally, is the economic value of live music to communities, cities and regions.”