Music tourism delivers £11.2b economic boost in 2025

Almost 25 million tourists travelled to attend music concerts and festivals in 2025, delivering an economic boost of £11.2b, figures from UK Music have revealed.

Performances by artists including Oasis, Beyoncé, Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Lana Del Rey and Kendrick Lamar boosted attendees numbers by 4.8% from 23.5 million in 2024 to the new record of 24.7 million last year.

The amount spent by those travelling to see their favourite artists perform grew by 11.3% from £10b in 2024.

UK Music, which represents UK’s commercial music industry, has said 22.6 million concert- and festival-goers were travelling within the UK to see performances, representing a boost to inbound tourism.

The remaining 2.1 million were inbound tourists, representing a 26.8% uplift on 2024 figures.

UK Music said £5.7b was spent by attendees on tickets, travel, accommodation and on-site spend.

UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl said: “The record 24.7 million music tourists who spent £11.2 billion to enjoy the experience of seeing their favourite acts live is a tribute to the 220,000 people who work across the UK music industry.

“The billions spent are a huge shot in the arm for towns and cities right across the UK and benefit hotels, restaurants, bars and transport firms and thousands of other businesses.

“However, the government must support music fans by delivering on their manifesto pledge to tackle the menace of ticket touts who charge exorbitant prices for resale tickets – squeezing the amount of cash fans have to spend on gig-going.”

High-profile tours and provided a number of opportunities for hospitality business in recent years. UKHospitality predicted Oasis’ 2025 tour dates would deliver “a multimillion-pound boost to the hospitality sector”, while Harry Styles’ 12-night Wembley run, which concluded earlier this month, had been expected to serve up a £1.1b economic boost.

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