SXSW 2011 Impact on Austin: $167.8 Million

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Sea of green

No wonder some hotels are already sold out of rooms for SXSW 2012. The 2011 fest saw a 20 percent jump in hotel room nights (47,500 nights, and that doesn't include couch-surfing).

Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Councilmember Mike Martinez were present on Tuesday as SXSW and Greyhill Advisors announced the details of the fifth consecutive study quantifying the dollar value of the music, film and interactive conferences, trade shows and festival. This year's magic number is $167.8 million of economic impact, which includes $44 million that SXSW contributes to the Austin economy during the non-fest portion of the calendar year. The study only includes those events "sanctioned" by SXSW. 

There’s been a steady increase in the millions of dollars that flood the city for the nine-day trio of events. While SXSW is 25 years old, the study has only been done since 2007, when $95 million flooded the city. In 2010 that jumped to $113 million.  You can read full economic impact report on the Greyhill blog.

The published report doesn't include specific numbers for SXSW Film other than to note that there were 1,500 passholders.  SXSW was able to confirm with us that SXSW 2011 had 13,409 film registrants (actual film badges) and 66,842 that attended film screenings (passes and film, gold, and platinum badges, and I assume filmmakers and guests). 

Those of us Austinites who stay in town (and venture downtown) during SXSW have felt the swell in numbers of people in town by the crazy crowds and traffic, packed venues and the impossibility of hailing a cab during the nine days of panels, screenings, performances and parties.  With these numbers, SXSW and the City of Austin can plan for improvements to SXSW 2012 and beyond. It's one thing to say "lots of people come to Austin for SXSW" and another to say "286,000 people visit Austin for SXSW" and "10,500 individual reservations were made at hotels" for SXSW. 

To fathom the enormity of the undertaking that is SXSW, it helps to look at just how much is going on for all three festivals and conferences and satellite events: 

  • 9 days of industry conference activities
  • 4 days of trade show
  • 5 nights of the Music festival featuring almost 2,000 artists on more than 90 stages
  • 9 days and nights of the Film festival with 300 screenings in seven venues
  • 3 nights of free concerts at Auditorium Shores
  • 4 days of a poster art show featuring 100 top artists, a two-day guitar show
  • 3 days of a gaming arcade
  • 2 days of a fashion event
  • 3 days of an educational conference
  • Countless numbers of parties, official and unofficial (only the 'sanctioned' events were included in the study)

[Photo credit: "SXSW 2011: Sea of Green" by Jette Kernion. Creative Commons license.]