ACL economic impact reaches far beyond festival grounds

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin City Limits is back beginning this weekend!

The annual music festival is expected to bring thousands of people to Zilker Park, and if there's one thing they're bringing with them, it's their wallets.

"We have people that come here for ALC not only to experience the festival, but the city, and they do that with their dollars as well," Matt Patton, executive vice president of AngelouEconomics, said.

Patton said his company has tracked ACL's economic impact in Austin for nearly two decades.

This year's festival is expected to generate half a billion dollars over the course of the two weekends.

"As the festival itself has grown, it's become more of a destination for people coming from different parts of the United States and around the world," Patton said.

Those dollars extend far beyond the festival grounds.

Patton said that as the festival has grown over the years, so has the cash flow for things like rental cars, hotels, bars and restaurants.

In some cases, ACL has turned one-time visitors into repeat tourists.

"As our large, live events have grown, so has that sector of our economy," Patton added. "We've built ourselves to be a much more dynamic and resilient economy because of that."

AngelouEconomics reports the festival has brought in billions to the city since its inception, and that number keeps growing.

"It's become much more of a tourist opportunity, an opportunity for Austin to showcase itself, and it's done a really good job of doing just that," Patton said.

You can find a complete section of KXAN’s ACL coverage here.