LONDON: Britons are spending increasing amounts on live entertainment, with the greatest growth coming in Scotland, according to latest figures.
Barclaycard, the credit card business which sponsored the recent British Summer Time music festival in London's Hyde Park attended by some 300,000 people over two weekends, said that spending in the year to date was up 8.5% from 2014.
And, while the rate of increased spending by Londoners was slightly higher than the national average, at 11%, this rise was eclipsed by the growth in spending among Scots, who were found to be spending 42% more on live entertainment per person than the average.
The figures are a turnaround from the same period in 2014, when spending on live entertainment dipped 2% in the first five months of the year compared with 2013.
Barclaycard also suggested that consumers were going out more often but spending less each time. The average transaction in 2015 so far comes in at £37.62, down on the £40.37 figure registered at this point in 2014.
Festival Insights, an industry publication, has said that most festival goers will spend between £50 and £100, while the proportion spending £100- £150 over a festival weekend has declined from 22% to 19% in recent years.
At major festivals, however, expenditure is significantly higher – one estimate put the average spend for each visitor to the Glastonbury music festival at £425.
Katherine Whitton, chief marketing officer at Barclaycard, observed that the nation was seeing a rise in spending power and said "people are keen to indulge their love affair with live music and entertainment".
"The impressive growth so far this year shows no sign of slowing down, and we expect live entertainment to ride the wave of the economic recovery over the coming months."
Barclaycard, the credit card business which sponsored the recent British Summer Time music festival in London's Hyde Park attended by some 300,000 people over two weekends, said that spending in the year to date was up 8.5% from 2014.
And, while the rate of increased spending by Londoners was slightly higher than the national average, at 11%, this rise was eclipsed by the growth in spending among Scots, who were found to be spending 42% more on live entertainment per person than the average.
The figures are a turnaround from the same period in 2014, when spending on live entertainment dipped 2% in the first five months of the year compared with 2013.
Barclaycard also suggested that consumers were going out more often but spending less each time. The average transaction in 2015 so far comes in at £37.62, down on the £40.37 figure registered at this point in 2014.
Festival Insights, an industry publication, has said that most festival goers will spend between £50 and £100, while the proportion spending £100- £150 over a festival weekend has declined from 22% to 19% in recent years.
At major festivals, however, expenditure is significantly higher – one estimate put the average spend for each visitor to the Glastonbury music festival at £425.
Katherine Whitton, chief marketing officer at Barclaycard, observed that the nation was seeing a rise in spending power and said "people are keen to indulge their love affair with live music and entertainment".
"The impressive growth so far this year shows no sign of slowing down, and we expect live entertainment to ride the wave of the economic recovery over the coming months."
Data sourced from Music Instrument Professional, Daily Telegraph; additional content by Warc staff
