Wonderwall of cash: Week of stellar events to send Melbourne economy surging

“I’m excited to see them live again, to hear all the songs again,” Arenas said. “I love the music, the lyrics, the way that they make the people feel. It’s like all the people hugging each other, singing. It’s really special.”

Friends Blaise O’Brien and Ethan Burne stocked up on merchandise before the Oasis concert. Credit: Eddie Jim

Friends Blaise O’Brien and Ethan Burne stocked up on merchandise at the store. O’Brien spent about $300 on a jacket, T-shirt, poster and sticker.

He said he had never seen Oasis play before.

“It’s great to see people coming together for the music,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing them perform Some Might Say.”

Julie Rynski, executive of business metro and specialised at NAB, said the bumper week would reinforce Melbourne’s status as Australia’s event capital and was expected to be the biggest week of the year for the city’s economy.

“Events are part of Melbourne’s DNA, but three major events in just over a week is extraordinary and will supercharge business activity,” she said.

Rynski said the Melbourne Cup carnival always provided an economic boost to the city, but this would be magnified by the concerts.

“You see hotels being booked out, certainly restaurants,” she said. “The whole place pumps.”

Last year, analysis by the Victoria Racing Club attributed a record $502.4 million in gross economic benefit to Victoria from the Melbourne Cup carnival.

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More than 100,000 people are expected in the city and surrounds on each of the two Saturdays and on Cup Day, which is expected to create a surge in demand for hospitality, retail and accommodation.

“People plan for this and save up,” Ryski said. “Those tickets for the concerts, they would have been bought months and months ago. I’m certainly not saying that the cost of living is not impacting some, but we all make choices. People have probably gone without coffee for the last month so that they could go to a couple of these sorts of things.”

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