REGIONAL PROFILES
FRANCE & BENELUX POPULATION: 62.8m (FR); 17m (NL); 11m (BE); 582,291 (LU) INTERNET USERS: 56.3m (FR); 15.7m (NL); 9.6m (BE); 555k (LU) GDP/CAPITA: €37,938 (FR); €45,454 (NL); €40,175 (BE); €91,266 (LU) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 66.6m (FR); 20.8m (NL); 12.9m (BE); 807k (LU)
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errorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, and Belgium in 2016, had a significant impact on this usually booming arenas business. Ticket sales were down, hospitality sales suffered and there was considerable consumer nervousness. The industry is now bouncing back and results for the latter half of 2016 and the first half of 2017 are exceeding previous years. The arenas surveyed hosted 425 events in 2016, selling a total of 3,675,307 tickets.
Attendance
The arenas surveyed achieved the second highest average attendance figures: 8,648 compared to an overall average of 5,826. This is mainly due to very high average concert turnouts – an average of
REGIONAL MAP n = France, Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg
10,260 people (survey average: 7,359). Dance events drew an average attendance of 9,835, and sports events attracted an average of 8,098, but family shows saw lower than average attendance at 4,743 (survey average: 5,157). Music dominates the programmes here, responsible for 2,062,359 tickets in 2016 – 56% of total sales and making up 47% of the total number of events hosted. Sport makes up 28% of events hosted, and 27% of the total audience; family shows account for 15% of all programming, but just 8% of ticket sales. Comedy and dance events make-up 5% and 3% each of the total number of events. There was an average of 71 performances per venue. Formerly the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, the AccorHotels Arena reopened in October 2015. In the 2015-2016 year, it sold 1.1million tickets to 111 events, among them 61 live music shows, 28 sporting events, 11 family shows, three corporate events and eight others. Come the end of the current season (to August 2017), arena director general Julien Collette says it will have increased this to 1.5m tickets to 178 events, among them 101 sporting events, 53 live music shows, 22 family shows and two corporate events. The outlook is similarly positive in Belgium, where the Sportpaleis Group runs the Sportpaleis (cap. 23,001) and neighbouring Lotto Arena (8,050) in Antwerp, Forest National (8,000) in Brussels, and the Ethias Arena (18,000) in Hasselt. “Last season we suffered as a result of the terrorist attacks,” says Sportpaleis’ Jan Van Esbroeck. “However, the current season is seeing a real revival in ticket
“People even come here from abroad to experience seeing really big artists in a smaller capacity venue.” Olivier Toth, Rockhal (LU)
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