West Cork festivals strum up millions for local economy
By Finnian Cox
West Cork’s three music festivals contributed more than €5.5 million to the Bantry area’s local economy in 2024, new research has found.
More than 5,500 people attended the three festivals studied: the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, West Cork Literary Festival, and the Masters of Tradition festival.
The independent economic impact assessment was carried out by UCC’s Professor Eleanor Doyle, who used box office data and audience research surveys to arrive at the findings.
The sudden growth in revenue reflects the sharp increase in attendance that this year’s festivals saw, which the report attributed to the aftermath of the pandemic.
As well as the festivals, the report said that local businesses also benefitted from the influx of visitors, with attendees spending more than €2.8 million on accommodation, catering, and local services.
Festival founder and West Cork Music CEO Francis Humphrys described the findings as “really encouraging”.
“It’s been a challenging few years for festivals and for our area, and we continue to face issues with rising costs and static funding,” said Humphrys.
“We are delighted that our festivals make a substantial contribution to the success of our town and region.”
West Cork Music is currently making plans to construct a 250 seater arts venue and education hub in the heart of the town.
If construction goes ahead, the venue will be the first, purpose-built chamber music venue outside of Dublin.
The venue would be situated near the town’s library and plaza, in an aim to create a cultural quarter in Bantry.
According to the report, the impact that the festivals had over the summer on jobs was equivalent to 47 full-time positions.
Humphrys said that the figures from the report are an indication of the effect that West Cork Music could have if they were operating on a year-round basis from the venue.
The festivals receive support from the Arts Council, Cork County Council, Fáilte Ireland and the Crespo foundation.
Each euro invested in this year’s events, an additional €9.94 in economic impact was generated.
The dates for next year’s editions of the festivals have been announced, with the three festivals taking up similar slots over the summer.
The West Cork Chamber Music Festival runs from 27 June – 6 July, with the West Cork Literary Festival set to take place from 11 – 18 July.
The Masters of Tradition will run from 20 – 24 August.