Popular musicians have announced their shows in the city this year. How much do such big concerts benefit the local businesses?
The frenzy began as fans lined up to purchase merchandise prior to the gig. Overnight, Taylor Swift’s fans queued up at the Principality Stadium and the city centre was swarming with people dressed in sequins, frills and cowboy boots. Outside the stadium, ticketless fans gathered to listen along to the concert, while inside the atmosphere was electric, making it an unforgettable night. Taylor Swift’s concert in Cardiff last year is estimated to have injected £16 million into Cardiff’s local economy, according to reports.
With many concerts and major sporting events set to happen in Cardiff at venues near to the city centre, the local businesses in Cardiff are expected to generate a big revenue to boost Cardiff’s economy. According to a Econactive report of 2019 ,the Principality stadium contributes over £135 million each year to Cardiff’s economy.
“Individual concerts can be important and with up to 70,000–80,000 people visiting Cardiff in a single night, the stadium brings in well over £100 million per annum to the city. It’s worth around 3,000 jobs. It’s big,” said Calvin Jones, a PhD in Economics of Tourism and Major Events and a Professor of Economics at Cardiff University.
American musicians Kendrick Lamar and SZA have announced their concert in Cardiff which is set to happen in July this year at the Principality Stadium. Lamar who won The Grammy recently, joined the list of popular artists set to perform in Cardiff this year. Artists such as Lana Del Ray, Oasis, Catfish and the Bottlemen have already announced their Cardiff gigs.
Though Taylor Swift has set high benchmarks, local hotels, pubs and restaurants have high expectations from the upcoming big-scale music concerts and sporting events in Cardiff.
Lowri Jones, assistant manager at the Marriott Cardiff said that a significant majority of the revenue is brought in by the tourists. “We see more tourists than locals, around 75% of our bookings for these concerts are from visitors. Unlike sporting events, concerts bring in a different kind of visitor, someone who books early, stays longer, and spends more in the city.”
She added that the hotel (including Marriott) prices surge from the range of £90 to £150 on usual weekends to £300 to £800 per night during concerts indicating a three-fold increase.
Premier Inn hotel in Cardiff which is located near to the Utilita Arena is set to host a few music concerts and comedy shows. Tyra, a manager at the hotel experienced completely selling out during concerts. She said, “We receive about 50% more customers on normal weekends than the weekdays, but on concert days, it is about 20-30% more than those weekends”. She added that Bar sales go up by about 40% when there’s a concert or rugby match.
Max Hocker, supervisor at the O’Neill’s Pub which is just about half a kilometre from the Principality stadium said that revenue goes up at least two times during music and rugby events. “On a normal Saturday, we’d make around £13,000. On a big concert day, that jumps to £20,000–£30,000. For the Six Nations, my general manager is hoping to make about £100,000 – which is insane.” said. He added that event pricing increases drink prices by £1.50 to £2 per drink and ‘Happy hour’ schemes are removed on event days, thus increasing the revenue on days of concerts and sporting events in Cardiff.
Variety of events brings in a diverse range of audiences to Cardiff. While it does not affect the hotels and other shops that much, pubs see a range of drinks being sold respective of whose concert is happening in the city.
Hocker said, “For Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey (concerts), I imagine we’d sell more cocktails. Oasis fans are big drinkers so, that concert is going to hit us hard.” He added, “For Kendrick Lamar, I don’t know how that’s going to work because rap music seems to bring in a totally different crowd. We’ll probably be stricter on dress code and behaviour for the Kendrick Lamar concert.” He also said that their pub opens extra bars and portable stations for the busiest stations.
Managers from both the hotels and supervisors from pubs have said that they start their preparations for such big events well before the event with Miss Jones saying that her hotel starts preparations for the entire year as soon as they get to know the schedule of the concerts happening in Cardiff.
Another element common to restaurants, pubs and hotels around Cardiff’s city centre was that they rarely hire extra staff for these events, with almost all of them giving extra shifts to their current part-time workers. This shows us that though there’s a huge increase in profit during these events, there is no equivalent job creation in Cardiff.
“This basically means more returns to the corporate out of the consumer’s pocket rather than creating more employment,” said Prof. Jones. He said that surge pricing is a huge benefit for corporates not a big benefit for employment. “We have dynamic pricing on tickets now as well, which maximizes revenue for the ticket holder – basically Ticketmaster, because they own everything.”
Tickets for the upcoming Kendrick Lamar and SZA concert are priced between £75 to £392 at the 74000-seater Principality stadium. The Cardiff Council stands to gain significantly through VAT and income taxes. VAT will be charged at 20%, the VAT alone could bring in about a million pounds.