• Swindon & Wiltshire Culture
• Tuesday February 20 2024
• Author Name: Peter Davison

275,000 visitors makes Bristol Light Festival most successful ever

An estimated 275,000 people visited the recent Bristol Light Festival, making it the most successful ever – and boosting the city’s nighttime economy by millions of pounds.

The 10-day festival – co-ordinated by Bristol City Centre BID – played host to 10 free-to-see illuminated art installations, including four world premiers between February 2 and 11.

Attractions included giant wildlife roaming around Finzels Reach, huge glowing flowers in Queen Square and an astronaut floating amongst a cosmos of flowers in St Stephens Church.

The penultimate evening – Saturday, February 10 – was the festival’s most visited day on record, with 80,000 visitors attending.

Vicky Lee, head of Bristol City Centre BID said: “This year’s event marvelled at every turn; the lights transform the city into a true sight to behold.

“Bristol Light Festival visitors drive footfall and revenue to our many restaurants, bars, shops and other businesses in the city centre, which is of course particularly important in the current economic uncertainty.

“We love that this very special event gets more popular every year, and we didn’t let the rain dampen our spirits as people still turned out in their hundreds of thousands across the 10 days and two weekends.

“It’s a real showcase for the city, celebrating everything that makes ‘Bristol Always A Good Idea’.”

Evanescent

Katherine Jewkes, creative director of the Bristol Light Festival, said: “What a fantastic 10 days. Bristol is such a Creative City, and it was wonderful to celebrate that through the programme this year.

“We are delighted by the reception from our audiences, who came out rain and shine to enjoy the lights.

“I’m delighted that we were able to present four world premiers of new work, as well as showcase artworks by local artists for the first time in their home city. I can’t wait for next year.”

Research conducted after the 2022 event suggested the festival – which ran over six days and attracted 170,000 people – brought in an added £3.4 million to the city centre economy.

James Taljaard, head of trading at Watershed, said of the 2024 festival: “We created two Bristol Light Festival cocktails, which sold very well.

“We saw an increase of families coming in to use the café and bar in the early evening; buying hot chocolate and warm spiced apple drinks, as well as the cocktails.

“Generally the festival is a great asset to Bristol and its nighttime economy and the art this year was fantastic.”

And Rebecca Bozeat-Manzi, regional director of sales at Holiday Inn Bristol City Centre, said: “In my view as a hotelier, the Bristol Light Festival offers a rich cultural interactive experience drawing visitors both local and from all over the UK and beyond.

“Art has always been at the heart of Bristol, and the festival of light is a much-needed artistic boost during the month of February; both for residents and visitors in the otherwise dark and dull month, but also for the local economy, in a typically quiet period of the year.

“Due to the festival, the hospitality sector experiences increased foot traffic and revenue during the event. Additionally, the increased profile of the area due to the marketing and visitor reach will hopefully lead to increased tourism.”

Pictured: Bristol is Always a Good Idea (main picture) by Real Hackney Dave at Valentine Bridge, Floating Harbour. Inset Evanescent by Atelier Sisu at College Green. These images by Business Biscuit