Festival adds more venues, activities to March lineup
One of the fastest-growing festivals in the world will set up shop in Austin in March, attracting thousands of visitors to Austin's central core. From March 6–18, the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference will brings its four festivals—Education, Interactive, Film and Music—to a slew of venues throughout downtown Austin.
The festival, which first began in 1987, has grown so much that Interactive Director Hugh Forrest said organizers have attempted to increase badge prices to help control the growing number of attendees for its now largest festival, Interactive.
"We have increased the badge prices a lot over the last few years for Interactive in hopes that it will scare some people away and calm some of the growth, but unfortunately that hasn't had quite the impact we wanted there," Forrest said, adding that SXSW collectively has also injected a sizable amount of money into Austin's economy. In 2011, the festival produced $167 million in revenue for the city of Austin.
"These figures have steadily increased over the last few years, and to put that in context, that's about half of the revenue of a Super Bowl," Forrest told a crowd at a Leadership Austin event Feb. 8. "SXSW certainly brings in a lot of hotel revenue and restaurant revenue—it generates a lot of money, and that's a good thing. I think these revenues will increase in 2012 as we grow across the board."
