Hay Festival a Big Boost to Local Economy

Research carried out on the impact of the Hay Festival has shown that the economic impact over the past three years has totalled more than £70 million!

The study was conducted by data collection provider QRS research and it shows that the festival generated a whopping £25.8 million in the local area in 2018, more than 25% higher than in 2016.

Maggie Kerr, the developmental director of the Hay Festival said “Every year during festival week Hay throws its doors open to the world. The festival, Hay’s bookshops, shops, galleries, cafés, restaurants, campsites, hotels and community all give a welcome like no other place.” “Our research shows how valuable these visitors are to the town’s economy and how important the warm welcome they receive is to their experience. We’ll continue to work closely with our neighbours and friends to ensure that keeps moving forwards, but overall it’s good news for the town.”

In the festival’s annual report the report states that 41% of festival attendees stayed in local accommodation for an average of four nights during the festival, while the event sold 273,000 tickets in 2018. This is 18,000 more tickets that last year. Those who visited the Hay Festival certainly enjoyed it and gave a satisfaction score of 8.6 out of 10 according to the report in The Bookseller today.

This year’s Hay Festival took place between 24th May and 3rd June and welcomed 700 speakers across 800 events. More than 8,000 school pupils visited the festival free of charge and almost a hundred schools live-streamed events into their classrooms thanks to funding from the Hay Festival Foundation and the Welsh Government.

The Hay Festival Winter Weekend will take place between 22nd and 25th November and the main Hay Festival 2019 is already planned for 23rd May to 2nd June.