London (AFP) – Fans are not the only ones eagerly awaiting next year’s Oasis reunion tour: British hoteliers and pub owners are looking forward to a boom in business, with hopes of a Taylor Swift-style economy boost. The price of hotel rooms shot up in host cities including Oasis’s hometown Manchester in northwestern England as soon as the tour dates were announced.
“It’s clear the pull of live music is as strong as ever. Hotels will get booked up quickly as fans secure tickets, and pubs, bars and restaurants will all be packed next summer with concert-going fans,” said Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive of UKHospitality, which represents the industry. “We expect to see huge demand from fans, both from the UK and from abroad, and that will no doubt deliver a multi-million-pound boost to the hospitality sector next year.”
Warring brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher have put their 15-year feud behind them to reunite for the tour. The Britpop duo behind hit songs including “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” announced on Tuesday they would play an initial 14 gigs next year in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and the Irish capital, Dublin, starting in July 2025.
Furious fans accused one hotel in Manchester of cancelling their reservations for the dates to relist the rooms for three times the price. The hotel blamed a “technical error,” but consumer body Which? said it was concerned about such practices and called on customers to be vigilant.
“Some accommodation providers will charge whatever they can get away with when a major event comes to town,” said Lisa Webb, a consumer law expert at Which?, adding that some hotels had made “eye-watering price” rises ahead of the tour. One fan in Manchester living near the city’s Heaton Park venue offered an innovative solution in a viral post on X. She offered concert-goers a free camping spot in her garden in exchange for a ticket.
The tour looks set to “join the likes of Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Beyonce in delivering record-setting shows,” added UKHospitality’s Nicholls. The economic impact of the European leg of Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” — which ended last week in London — went far beyond ticket sales. British bank Barclays estimated in a study in May that Swift’s tour would inject almost £1 billion ($1.3 bn) into the UK economy, with fans splurging on tickets, travel, accommodation and eating and drinking out. Several economists also believed that the tour and related activities could have marginally boosted inflation.
Tuesday’s tour announcement delighted fans who had despaired of ever seeing brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher perform together again. As expected, sky-high demand led to a further three dates being announced on Thursday. The three extra concerts take the total announced so far for the UK and Ireland in 2025 to 17. More on “continents outside of Europe later next year” are also expected according to a statement posted on Oasis’s website.
Ticket prices were also unveiled on Thursday with seated tickets priced at around £75 and standing tickets at around £150. Ticket sales, merchandise and possible licensing for a film alone could generate a £400 million profit, said Matt Grimes, a music industry researcher at Birmingham City University. After accounting for expenses and paying their teams, the Gallagher brothers could come away with £50 million each, he told AFP. They will not be the only ones to profit.
“When a band like Oasis comes to your city to play, you’ve got people coming along. So hotels make money, public transport companies make money, food outlets make money, licensed pubs make money,” he said. UK tickets will go on sale on Saturday at 9:00 am (0800 GMT). “They will be gone before midday,” Grimes added. “This is probably going to be perhaps a once in a lifetime event, so people will find the money to buy the tickets.”
© 2024 AFP
