SXSW economic impact sees small dip based on lower spending for ticketing

South by Southwest’s impact on the local economy decreased slightly this year from 2023, according to a new study from business analysts Greyhill Advisors. The study found that the festival generated $377.3 million for local businesses and residents, compared to the $380.9 million figure notched in 2023 when by many measurements the event saw a return to the heights not seen since the 2019 edition that preceded the Covid-19 pandemic.

Data provided to Greyhill by the festival shows the decrease was caused by a roughly $16 million decrease in spending connected to ticketing ($217.8 million for 2024) or the purchase of badges for the festival’s different programming niches. Small increases in spending for operations ($98.5 million) and partnerships ($61 million) made up most of the drop in ticketing impact.

Total in-person attendance in 2024 was 47,661, with more than 180,000 more participating via streaming on YouTube.

Ben Loftsgaarden, a partner with Greyhill, said the festival saw attendance increases in the film, education and music portions of the festival, with decreases in the film and the number of high-dollar platinum all-access badges that were sold.

Nearly 45,000 hotel room nights were booked locally during SXSW this year, which Loftsgaarden said helped contribute to the $650-per-day spend per person for out-of-town participants.

“One of the things about South by Southwest that is really good for the Austin region is that the bulk of their official registrants are from outside the Austin area. So there’s a significant number of people that are coming in, and it’s not a single-day conference or festival,” he said. “On average, what we see is people stay almost about five days in town … so that’s kind of a big number that helps to support that economic impact.”

The analysis also noted that those hotel stays generated $2.3 million in local Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue, some of which helped to fund grant programs that support local musicians and artists.

Ed Bailey, a member of the Tourism Commission and business development professional in the entertainment industry, said the small decrease in economic impact shows the festival is still an attractive gathering place for professionals across many industries. With costs for hotel stays and other business expenses growing substantially since over SXSW’s nearly 40 years, he said businesses and artists expect a significant impact to their own business from participating in the festival.

“If you look at when it started to now, the investment it takes not only to produce the events here but to attend the event as an attendee, whether you’re a brand coming in to do your branding work or you’re sending people to do the work of representing your brand at South By, the the cost to do this has gone up,” he said. “Given the incredible increase in expense and cost it takes to be here and to spend a week to do this, I think these numbers look healthy.”

While Austin-Bergstrom International Airport’s coming expansion is in some ways a response to the bottlenecks and growing pains of accommodating tens of thousands of visitors in a short time frame, Bailey said the hotel economy’s growth in recent years has the city well positioned to keep SXSW performing at a high level once the Austin Convention Center is torn down beginning next year.

During the four-year rebuilding process, Bailey said major hotels throughout downtown will operate as small epicenters for specific niche programming to make it easier for attendees to meet and conduct business.

“The big-box hotels with convention ballrooms that we have brought on into the market are going to be very much the center of gravity where the convention center might have been before,” he said. “The satellite or a spoke-and-hub vision for South By articulating through the downtown in the same way that it has over the years … I’ve been surprised how they found a way to move kind of specific tentpole programming, whether it’s food, tech or fashion.”

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