New research reveals gap in understanding of the 62million visitor economy
Sussex hosts one of the strongest and most diverse mixes of summer cultural events in the country. Glyndebourne, the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Brighton Pride are national draws for visitors. These selections showcase diverse arts, sport, and community celebrations.
Alongside them sit the South of England Show, Love Supreme, the Arundel Festival of the Arts. Additionally, there are a dozen more, accounting for over a million visitors between May and September. These events contribute to Sussex’s vibrant summer calendar.
However, analysis by the Sussex Intelligence Unit shows that almost none of the Events have been assessed. This makes it hard to understand their impact and contribution to the region.
Only Brighton Pride, the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Glyndebourne and On The Beach Brighton have been analysed.
But, these four studies were carried out in four different years between 2013 and 2025. They used different methods and different geographies and no assessment has ever combined them.
A fifth event, Eastbourne’s Airbourne, is widely credited with £27 million of economic benefit. However, the briefing traces this figure to a 2022 council report that does not identify the study or a methodology.
The gap matters because of what Sussex is now being asked to do. The region is making an evidence-led case for investment, devolution and place, and its events are among the clearest demonstrations of how Sussex uses public space to build shared identity and belonging. They sit directly inside the Government’s Pride in Place agenda. Developing a case based on four studies, the oldest of them thirteen years old, is a weak position to negotiate from.
The briefing asks whether the contribution of events should be considered in monetary terms and argues against forcing two very different kinds of value into a single headline figure. Instead, the ask is for a two-track approach: report transactional impact event by event, with the year and method stated, and treat social value separately, qualitatively first, with a monetary figure applied only where the case genuinely requires it.
Read Data Briefing 07: The Value of Sussex Events
We are not short of events in Sussex. We are short of evidence about them. Four studies, the oldest from 2013, is not a basis on which any region should be arguing for recognition, and investment, in its visitor economy.