Last year’s Brighton Pride boosted the city’s economy by at least £18million as visitors spent money in restaurants, hotels, attractions and shops, its organisers estimate.
Brighton Pride CIC is basing the figures on an online poll which almost 3,000 people who had bought tickets took part in – and the actual figure could be much higher as it doesn’t include those who just came to watch the free parade.
And visitors also said that both the festival in Preston Park and the Village Party felt safer since being ticketed.
A spokesman said: “Based on the average spend of our respondents, we conservatively estimate at least £18m of revenue was generated across the city during the Pride weekend by those purchasing tickets for a Pride event. This does not take into account those visitors that came to the city just to watch the free Parade and then went off to eat or shop.
This survey is not comprehensive but provides an excellent snapshot. Over the next year Pride will be developing improved feedback and statistics for “all our events and the impact of Pride on the city.”
The survey, which was open for 14 days, also showed that most people arrived by train (45%) or car (27.2%) and almost one third of the visitors to Pride chose to stay in hotel or B&B accommodatio
A huge 90% felt the festival was safer and 77% felt the Village Party was safer since being ticketed.
Two thirds of respondents said they visited restaurants in Brighton, while 41% went shopping during their stay and a large amount said they visited attractions such as the Brighton Pier, Brighton Wheel and Royal Pavilion.
Three in four preferred this years Parade route with 90% feeling there was a good mix between community and commercial entries
At the Pride Festival Community Fundraiser on Preston Park, the most popular area was the Main Stage followed closely by the Dance and Cabaret Tents, with 87% felt there was a good diversity of entertainment on offer and 84% feeling it was good value for money.
For the full results, click here.
Rubbish…. where’s the figures?? Where are the comments from the restaurants, hotels, attractions and shops ?