News – Festival fortunes

UK folk festivals generate spending of over £82m a year, with the 350 folk festivals in the UK attracting over 350,000 attenders, spending an average of £226 per head. These figures form the basis of a new report, The Impact of Folk Festivals, developed by Arts Council England and the Association of Festival Organisers.
The report found that folk festivals produce a higher return on investment than most other tourism events due to high levels of loyalty and repeat visitors; over 90% of attenders were tourists. Contrary to popular perceptions of folk aficionados, 45% of festival goers were under 35 years old and 52% were women. Steve Heap, the General Secretary of the Association of Festival Organisers said: ?With this report, folk music, dance and song ? and in particular festivals ? can stand proud with many other artforms that culturally, artistically, organisationally and now economically add to the wealth of the arts in England today.?