It looks like Georgia’s famous peaches and Vidalia onions have competition for being the namesakes of the beautiful Southern state, as TomorrowWorld has firmly planted its roots in Chattahoochee Hills. Becoming a popular destination for live music performances, Georgia seems to have gotten the catalyst it needed to make a big splash in the EDM community by staging the inaugural TomorrowWorld event. As reported in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “TomorrowWorld’s economic impact was calculated at $85.1 million, with $70 million of it in Atlanta and neighboring areas…That dollar figure is the same amount the NCAA Final Four Championship games brought to the city in 2013.”
With veteran, EDM hub Miami fighting cancellation due to too many negative repercussions at Ultra Music Festival, it will be interesting to see how the growth of these large-scale musical festivals impacts Georgia moving forward. Regardless of the many injuries, complaints, and concerns rousing controversy around festivals, one thing is unequivocal – their financial clout is significant.
Counterpoint Festival is also taking place soon – at the end of April – in Kingston Down, further solidifying Georgia’s importance on the map as an event site. Initial reactions and findings to these festivals seem to be positive, and we hope they continue down that path as they continue to expand. Below are more interesting findings from the U.S. economic impact study about TomorrowWorld:
- 120,000 people attended over three days (a little short of projections of 50,000 per day, or 150,000 for the event). An additional 20,000 fans who arrived the Thursday before the official Friday kickoff to get situated on the camp site at the farm were also tallied.
- TomorrowWorld employed the equivalent of 749 annual full time jobs.
- An estimated $4.3 million in tax revenue went to the state and local governments as a result of event-related spending.
- About 22.5 percent of TomorrowWorld attendees spent several additional days in the Atlanta area. Their spending added $28.7 million into the local economy across areas such as lodging, restaurants and sightseeing.
- TomorrowWorld surveyed 1,829 attendees two weeks after the festival and received a score of 9.2 out of 10 for overall enjoyment.