More than £3.5 million injected into Great Yarmouth economy by Wheels Festival

Great Yarmouth’s two-day summer Wheels Festival generated more than £3.5 million for the local economy last year and created or sustained more than 51 jobs.

Visit Great Yarmouth staged the weekend event on June 21 and 22 2025, which attracted a record 70,000 visitors.

For every £1 spent by Visit Great Yarmouth, £57 was injected into the local economy, an economic impact study has revealed.

The figure was calculated by direct visitor spending with seafront businesses, attractions, shops, cafes and restaurants, transport and accommodation by overnight visitors and indirect spending by business with suppliers.

Visit Great Yarmouth commissioned the report from Essex-based Destination Research, which uses its PRIME model to calculate direct and indirect spending, which illustrates the value of events.

Research showed that about half the people who attended lived locally, 35 per cent travelled for the day and 15 per cent were staying in the Great Yarmouth area.

Asa Morrison, Chief Executive of Visit Great Yarmouth, said:

“We commission these reports to give us data on which we base our decisions about future events and marketing activities.

“We have seen an increase in footfall at the Wheels Festival through the years and the study allows us to gauge its impact on the wider economy in terms of money generated across the destination.”

Visit Great Yarmouth – the trading title of the Great Yarmouth Tourism and Business Improvement Area – commissions similar studies for its other activities, including its summer weekly firework displays at Great Yarmouth and Hemsby.