AUSTIN, Texas — South by Southwest (SXSW) is breaking records with this year's festival. The economic report released by the company shows this year's economic impact proves SXSW has bounced back from pandemic years.
It shows $380 million benefiting Austin's local economy.
"They just keep kind of adding something new year after year, and it's really been supported by the local community over those years," said Ben Loftsgaarden, a partner with Greyhill Advisors.
After canceling in 2020, hosting a virtual event in 2021 and a scaled-back version in 2022, SXSW 2023 had a massive economic impact – even larger than the $355 million from 2019, pre-pandemic.
"What we're seeing now in 2023 is really in keeping with the trendline that we saw in 2019 and before, where the now is still a good jump. And it's a great bounce back for South by Southwest," Loftsgaarden said.
Loftgaarden, a spokesperson for SXSW and financial expert, said what's unique about this large-scale event is its dependence on the local market.
"The venue for South by Southwest is locally owned restaurants, bars, hotels, theaters. And so $380 million impact is really the impact to those folks in Austin. It's Austin – it's the city of Austin's impact," Loftsgaarden said.
A report about this year's festival shows there were nearly 11,500 hotel reservations made for SXSW and direct booking through the festival brought in $2.6 million in hotel occupancy taxes. That money supports the City of Austin's live music fund.
"Our calculations show that that is enough to fund over 500 $5,000 grants to local Austin musicians, which is really kind of part of the ethos of South by Southwest making," Loftsgaarden said.
He said to see an impact like this proves SXSW isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
After pushback from local musicians and city council members this year, SXSW agreed to increase the amount of money it gives performing musicians for next year's festival, bumping pay for solo artists to $150 and for bands, $350.