Medway Council: Rochester Festivals Economic Impact
Measuring what Rochester’s Christmas Market, Dickensian Festival and Sweeps Festival are worth to Medway.
Area
Location
The question
What are three of Rochester’s best-loved events really worth to Medway, beyond the crowds they draw?
Together they attract hundreds of thousands of visits a year, but their full economic value has never been measured using government-standard methods.
What we’RE DOING
We’re carrying out an economic impact study of the 2026 Christmas Market, the 2026 Dickensian Christmas Festival and the 2027 Sweeps Festival, funded through Medway’s Heritage Place programme.
It’ll give the council solid evidence for future investment, funding bids and planning for its events programme.
HOW WE’RE DOING IT
We’re surveying visitors at every event and talking to traders, hospitality businesses and transport providers about the spending that ripples out across Rochester.
We’ll combine this with the council’s own footfall and transport data, and use HM Treasury Green Book methods to calculate the full economic impact, taking care not to double-count visitors on the weekend the two Christmas events overlap.
Explore your next move.
Book a free discovery call with our CEO, Richard Freeman – or send us a brief and we’ll give you an honest appraisal of the best way to get from A to B.