Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/06/sxsw-canceled-austin-says-goo.html
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Ouch. They just postponed Emerald Con in Seattle
My con in KC is in a couple weeks… so far it is on. I kinda hope the turn out is low, as I might go for a John Cleese autograph if so. But crossing fingers it isn’t cancelled.
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Well, that SXSW.
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A report commissioned by SXSW last year pegged the economic impact of the 2019 festival at about $356 million — which would equate to about a quarter of 1% of the region’s estimated $150 billion annual economy.
So … practically no impact at all?
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Not for tons of business owners. And airlines. And…etc.
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Airlines are going to be seriously hurting with this outbreak for plenty of reasons. This is just one tiny factor contributing to the issue.
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Yeah, of course, but it’s still a lot of flights that won’t be happening.
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As an Austinite with an immuno-suppressed relative: thank God. And thank you to all of the sponsors and performers who pulled out: none of the jackasses at city haul would ever have canceled it without you, despite the large Change.org petition.
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Austinites are probably pretty happy about it. No parking problems! Locals able to visit restaurants! No yankees dressed up cosplay cowboy outfits!
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Only local drunk young men fighting on 6th street!
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I’m NOT an official SXSW information source, but you can bet that many of the “unofficial” events and artists will still be performing at small venues, bars, restaurants and private houses. The streets will still be teeming with visitors drinking, dancing and coughing. My lovely neighbors will still be hosting 22 bands in their front yard, playing all day and night long.
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The first part is never, ever true. The unofficial slogan of every SXSW is, “Welcome to Austin! Don’t move here!”
The second part might be, because the big festivals (SXSW, ACL, any F1 race) are real mixed bag. Mu bartender friends like it because they get “almost a dollar tip almost every drink” (a far cry from their usual clientele). Restaurant managers I’ve talked to say foot traffic dries up as Austinites flee and tourists never walk farther than to hail an Uber.
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Well, color me unsurprised. It was weird when GDC got cancelled but not SXSW, given the situation wasn’t any different.
From what I’m reading, they already are. Even domestic flight passenger numbers have dropped enormously. They haven’t seen something like this since 9/11, and it’ll get worse.
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Well it would be like a person who brings home $50,000 a year suddenly being out 125 bucks, so not nothing.
But of course the economic impact isn’t being evenly distributed across the population. Some people will experience virtually no impact at all while others will lose out on one of their biggest income streams of the year.
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Got any suggestions of local merchants who will be hard hit by the cancellation, who would really appreciate a little mail-order business from faraway customers?
SXSW2020 t-shirt vendors, maybe?
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I live in Austin and work downtown. SXSW is kind of a pain for me every year. This year my wife is suggesting we book one of the many now available hotels dirt cheap for a mini-vacation. Totally gonna do that I think.
Downside is that she had a dog sitting client that books every year for SXSW who has canceled so we will miss having one of our favorite dogs stay with us.
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ISC West in Las Vegas was cancelled today. It’s the annual big Spring security industry show that takes place in the middle of March every year.
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Is the region the same as the city? That’s not especially clear, and it could make a huge difference in understanding the economic impact.
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I was planning on going to Biggest Little Fur Con in a month or so and probably going to cancel. I’m a bit spooked that concrud is a tad bit deadlier than I’m used to.
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We have the local comics con in two weeks. So far, there’s not been community spread of coronavirus in Finland, but if that changes, I wonder how things will go.
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