Sole 24 ore: Music driving tourism wave in Italy: 31.4% tickets from out of town

Music events are an extremely healthy driver of the tourism market. In 2015, the number of tourists traveling across Italy to attend a music event rose by 6% from the previous year. Out of total audience for concerts (6.1 million tickets sold), some 31.4% of lived outside the region, with many traveling for more than 200 kilometers. Around some 2.7% came from abroad according to a report by Cerved commissioned by trade marketing association Assomusica, and due out this winter .

The study comes amid a wave of optimism for the variety of musical events of the 2016 summer season — whether this be rock, with Bruce Springsteen returning to San Siro in Milan and David Gilmour to Pompeii, or classical music, with major events like the Puccini Festival of Torre del Lago and the Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro.

Umbria Jazz attracts fans of improvisation to Perugia. The most “open” music venue isVerona, with the famed Arena selling 62% of its seats outside the region and 3.2% abroad.

Turin isn’t doing bad either, thanks to PalaAlpitour: 31% of the audience comes from outside the region, and 2.5% from abroad. That’s similar to Rome (28.7% from outside the region and 2.8% from abroad) and Naples (26% of the audience comes from outside the region, but only 1.1% from abroad).

“We’re seeing growth in tourism related to music, in line with a greater number of concerts and performances,” says Assomusica president Vicenzo Spera. He said the sector generates about €640 million in turnover. Different audiences have a different impact.

“Rock and pop events attract huge audiences. Opera, symphonic and jazz music attract big spenders, who reserve tickets at high-end locations,” said Filippo Fonsatti, chairman of the Live Entertainment Federation. The mix of both, according to Ivano Massignan of Verona Events, “is the reason behind the success of the model of the Arena, whose program includes lighter events as well as classical offerings.”

The hospitality sector welcomes the trend. “Opera, classical music and pop make destinations more popular, bringing hotels into the mix,” said Giorgio Plamucci ofConfindustria Allberghi.

Sipario Musicale, a tour operator in Milan specialized in music-focused trips, confirmed the trend. “Every year we accompany 6,000 Italian tourists and a thousand foreigners to the most prestigious classical theater performances and festivals, from La Scala to the Sferisterio of Macerata,” marketing chief Andrea Cortelazzi. “There’s very strong demand for this segment of the market. Demand is constantly growing.”