Hugo Martin writes in a recent Los Angeles Times article that the upcoming Desert Trip music festival is expected to nearly double the spending currently generated by the The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. 

As background, these two music festivals drew 250,000 music lovers to the Empire Polo Grounds over three weekends this spring, sparking an estimated economic impact of more than $403 million, according to a new economic study. Although attendance has only risen by 11% over the last four years, spending jumped more dramatically partly because of a big increase in housing costs, especially with the growing popularity of vacation rentals. To further illustrate this, the average per-night cost for Coachella fans grew from $68 in 2012 to $116 in 2016. 

With the addition of the Desert Trip music festival, targeting baby boomers and classic rock fans with headliners The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, The Who, Bob Dylan, Neil Young + Promise of the Real and Roger Waters, for two weekends in October, the projected economic impact of all the music celebrations combined will nearly double to $805 million, according to Michael Bracken, managing partner and chief economist at Development Management Group, the contract economist for Goldenvoice, the promoter of the festivals. The jump is partly because Desert Trip offers more high-priced reserved seats than the other two events but it’s also likely that the older music fans expected to attend the October celebration will spend more lavishly on lodging, food and drinks than the Coachella and Stagecoach fans. 

The latest financial numbers are good news for the region. Tourism in the Palm Springs area generated $6.4 billion in spending in 2015, up nearly 10% since 2013, according to the Greater Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau. Recreation and entertainment grew 16% in that time, while spending on lodging increased by 17%, according to the bureau. Despite the growing enthusiasm for the various music festivals, just to put things in perspective, the most popular tourist attraction in the Palm Springs area remains Joshua Tree National Park, which drew a record 2 million visitors in 2015, according to the Visitors Bureau. 

To read Hugo Martin’s original article, courtesy of The Los Angeles Times, please visit: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-coachella-impact-20160723-snap-story.html