West Cork estimates €7.67m economic impact from three international festivals

Three international festivals generated an economic impact of €7.67m in Bantry in 2025. The festivals sold 15,888 tickets with more than 5,570 attendees. Visitors created 20,761 bed nights while audiences spent more than €4.8m on accommodation, catering, and local services.

Seventeen percent of visitors came from overseas and 53pc from outside the Bantry region. Each euro of public money invested returned €12.30 in economic impact.

Francis Humphrys, festival founder and West Cork Music CEO, shared “The findings are really encouraging. More than ever, it remains a challenging time for arts festivals as we continue to face issues with rising costs, static funding and lower tourism nationally. Nonetheless these figures demonstratively prove the value of established and well-run arts organisations to local communities.”