The Arts and Travel - A Post Pandemic Win:Win Partnership

With over one million people being vaccinated each day in the United States we are starting to see an awakening in the travel business. Consumers are starting to actually plan trips that they believe they can take, as vaccine-driven optimism is rising. In addition, concerts, festivals and art museums are beginning to announce dates and re-openings. While there is massive pent-up demand for both travel and the arts, the restart will be both slow and tentative. Activity levels will jump dramatically later this year, but the travel/tourism business won’t likely get back to pre-pandemic levels until 2024.

Outside of the hospitality industry (bars and restaurants) no other categories have been harder hit by the pandemic than travel/tourism and the arts. Both are experiential activities that require participants to be physically present. Yes, I know, there’s a strong virtual/digital economy for the arts, but unfortunately this represents a small part of the income that most musicians, actors, artists, and production crews make from their work. Outside of Broadway and Las Vegas, which are entertainment destinations, musicians, stage actors, and dancers must take their shows on the road to earn a living. Travel is a necessity for the vast majority of performing artists.

The arts sector accounts for more than 4.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis) and is larger than the agriculture and transportation sectors. This figure does not account for the billions of ancillary revenue spent on dinner, drinks, hotels, parking, shopping, etc. that is directly related to arts events.

Both the arts and travel will start to come back in Q3 and Q4 this year. The speed with which this happens will depend on how safe consumers feel jumping on a flight or sitting in a theatre with thousands of others. The economics of the touring business will make it tough for acts to hit the road again. Where they used to play 4,000 seaters they may need to scale back and play 2.000 seaters. Also, if everybody hits the road at once, that will create availability issues at preferred venues and force consumers to make tough decisions on how many of their favorite acts they can afford to see.

The travel and performing arts are very similar in that their inventory is entirely perishable. Every airplane seat that flies empty, hotel room that goes vacant or an unsold theatre seat is lost inventory. For this and other reasons they are obvious partners. There are a number of ways that the arts community and the travel/tourism industry can work together to develop win:win partnerships. Here are a few possibilities:

Trading travel services for sponsorship rights and/or performances and fees. The touring business is heavily dependent on travel and airlines and hotels can offset these costs by tying their brands to events that will put more butts in the seats and heads in beds.

The creation of festival events that feature in-demand performers that will drive visitors to specific properties. Think like a tour operator and build packages that include air, hotel, and tickets.

Sponsor artists and then leverage the rub-off equity that comes from the relationship to incentivize fans to favor a brand or brands.

One recent example of a partnership between arts and travel is a “new music-focused experiential hospitality category” being developed by Universal Music Group and investment holding company Dakia U-Ventures, LLC. The first of their music themed luxury hotels will be built in Atlanta, Orlando, and Biloxi, Mississippi. These properties will give fans the opportunity to have easier access to their favorite acts while providing performers with guaranteed income without having to commit to a somewhat risky tour. This model is similar to the one that has worked well for cruise lines and Las Vegas venues.

This is a time when both the arts community and travel/tourism providers need each other and there are numerous opportunities for creating mutually beneficial business relationships and projects. The demand will be strong and by partnering with artists who attract a desired target audience, travel providers can build both traffic and loyal customers.