Highest Point festival generates nearly £5m for local economy

The Highest Point festival, which brought 35,000 music fans together in Lancaster in September, has generated £4.68m for the local economy according to new research.

The open-air music festival featured acts such as James, Rag‘n’Bone Man, Rick Astley and Becky Hill.

A study by Red Research has now found that the event created 280 jobs in the run-up to and during the festival, and returned £4.26 for the local economy for every £1 invested in the event.

Six in ten people who attended Highest Point in Williamson Park were local to Lancaster, a fifth travelled from elsewhere in Lancashire, and a further 21 per cent from outside the county. On average, tourists stayed for more than one night, with most in hotels in the city, and the total additional trip spend generated estimated to be around £210,000.

Rachel McQueen, chief executive of Marketing Lancashire said: "Festivals of this calibre and character attract large numbers to the area, as evidenced in this new report. They make a huge contribution to our hospitality businesses, as well as to local retailers and suppliers. They are also often the reason new visitors come to the county and having had one great experience in Lancashire, a good proportion of those visitors are usually keen to come back to explore more."

The survey also discovered that 94 per cent of attendees rated it as a positive experience, with 67 scoring it as 'very good'. Early bird tickets for next year's event, which will take place in May, have already sold out, with further tickets going on sale in January.

Jamie Scahill, who co-founded the festival with RIchard Dyer and Holly Wignall, said: "It was amazing to see so many smiling faces at the festival after such a difficult time for everybody. The energy from everybody who attended over the full weekend blew us away.

"The feedback we received makes our job worthwhile and we are very proud of what we bring to the city of Lancaster each year."

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