For
@JimboBBN who seems to think this isn't a big deal at all. Why worry about the economic impacts? He'll be just fine and live to see tomorrow.
SXSW is the highest revenue-producing event outside of athletic and other events associated with
The University of Texas at Austin for the Austin economy, with an estimated economic impact of $190.3 million in 2012
[176] increasing to $218 million in 2013,
[177] $315 million in 2014,
[178] $317 million in 2015,
[179] and $325 million in 2016.
[180] (In comparison,
Super Bowl LI brought a $347 million economic impact to the Houston economy
[181] and the
2017 Final Four brought a $324 million economic impact to the economy of Phoenix, Arizona.
[182])
Additionally, demand for hotel rooms in the Austin area continued to outstrip supply, pushing average nightly room rates up to an all-time high of $350 in 2016, a 60 percent increase over the average room rate seen during 2011's edition of SXSW. The average SXSW registrant also stayed in Austin longer in 2016, spending an average of 5.2 nights, up from 4.9 nights in 2015.