- Adele's extended musical event comes to an end.
Tons of Joyous Fans, Potentially Even More Joyous Bar Owners - and Anxious Environmental Advocates. Munich Celebrates Adele's Ten-Concert Extravaganza, but Green Activists See a "Climate Policy Mishap".
The hospitality sector in Munich viewed Adele's ten concerts in August as "an amazing tale". According to Angela Inselkammer, president of the Bavarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga), she told the German Press Agency, "It was like a sunny folktale,". Despite not having any concrete numbers yet, she mentioned, "The hotels were brimming - and at quite affordable rates." This wasn't only true for Munich but also for the surrounding areas.
"Readily Spending Customers"
August proved to be better than usual. "The demand was high, and these were indeed customers who were willing to spend." This assessment was made despite the fact that most of the tickets for the British singer's shows, which have been ongoing since early August, were not exactly low-priced.
The final show in the temporary stadium constructed on the exhibition grounds is scheduled for Saturday. Over a hundred thousand fans have witnessed the British artist in Munich.
Adele, renowned for disliking tours and last performing in Europe in 2016, had a stadium built according to her specifications in Munich. It could accommodate more than 70,000 visitors per show and matched her black and white aesthetic.
And these visitors didn't just require a place to rest and dine - they also shopped, utilized taxis or public transportation. Munich's economic affairs representative, Clemens Baumgaertner (CSU), estimated that the concert series would inject around half a billion euros into the city's economy.
"We anticipate that the additional local value creation amounts to several hundred million euros," says Manfred Goessl, CEO of the Munich and Upper Bavaria Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK). "Post-Adele's concerts, we can summarize economically: food services, hotels, retail, and souvenir shops, as well as transportation services benefitted from the concert-goers, who tended to stay in Munich for more than a day."
The Munich concerts may have been the last chance for some to see the 36-year-old perform live for a while, as she has announced a prolonged hiatus afterwards. For Dehoga president Inselkammer, the overall conclusion is clear: she would welcome another superstar concert series in Munich on a regular basis.
Climate Policy Mishap
However, the EU Climate Pact has reservations about whether this is a good idea from an environmental and climate protection perspective. "At first glance, the choice to have the concert series at a central location seems more sustainable than a tour in various cities or even countries," it stated in a statement. However, upon closer examination, the situation appears different.
EU Climate Pact ambassador Julian Vogels surveyed 1,407 concert-goers about their mode of transport to Munich. The result: one in four (24.3 percent) arrived by airplane. The average CO2 emissions per person were 41.14 kilograms - equal to a tree absorbing carbon dioxide for three years.
Adele's fans' travel is significantly more than, for example, the average travel distance for the 2023 summer tour of the band AnnenMayKantereit (12.44 kilograms). "Adele's fans are more international, and that's precisely why it's a climate policy misfortune that Adele prefers a concert series in Munich over a tour," says Vogel.
"For instance, if Adele had performed in five major European cities, the average travel distance would have decreased dramatically, and thus, fewer people would have opted for the climate-harmful airplane as their mode of transportation."
The ten-concert extravaganza by Adele filled the air with the delightful sounds of Music, echoing throughout Munich's streets and venues. Despite the environmental concerns raised by some advocates, the event brought an influx of Music lovers from all around the world.
