The Largs Live and food festivals generated a total of £637,000 in business for the town, a new report has revealed.

The independent research company, IBP Strategy and Research, provide the details, for the likes of economic development agencies such as Scottish Enterprise.

Within this figure, £331,000 was additional spend, meaning money that would not have been spent in Largs if the festivals had not happened.

Explore Largs spent less than a total of £30,000 on both events; this represents a return of 11:1, meaning that an additional £11.00 was spent in Largs for each £1 of BID money invested in the festivals.

The events generated thousands of extra visitors to Largs, with 8,000 attending the Food Fest and 10,000 taking in Largs Live.

Willie Wood, Chairman of Explore Largs said: “The research revealed that the events brought visitors to the town who only came because the festivals were on; 65% for Largs Food Fest and 63% for Largs Live, and that 11% and 15% respectively, would have visited elsewhere in Scotland such as Loch Lomond, Falkirk, Stirling and Ayr to name but a few.” “There are a lot of events and destinations to visit in Scotland, these festivals help promote Largs and support Largs businesses, which is key for the town’s survival in a competitive market place.” John Hamilton, the BID Manager, added: “We would like to thank North Ayrshire Council for helping to fund this essential research which will assist us in applying for additional funding for the festivals in future. Nearly 80% of the visitors who attended the events do not live in Largs. They travelled here to attend the Festivals and spend money in the town.” “The combination of the festivals and the new TV advertising campaign has achieved exactly what Explore Largs set out to do.

“We raised and reaffirmed awareness of Largs as a great place to visit and created events that gave people an additional reason to visit our beautiful town.” STV have also supplied details from the independent Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) who have confirmed that each burst of the Explore Largs TV campaign, which ran in May, June and August, has been seen by over 750,000 adults in the west coast of Scotland.

STV’s Maggie Sheridan, added: “The Explore Largs advert was viewed by three quarters of a million adults, with the ads being seen on average 3.5 times by viewers. The slots included Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Scotland Tonight, which puts the Largs awareness campaign alongside multinational companies like Sainsbury’s and Tesco.” Explore Largs is currently looking at new ideas to add to the current calendar of events staged throughout the summer months, a key time to encourage visitors to Largs and boost businesses, which employ many local residents.