Readers of my blog know I have often argued that expanding or closing Billy Bishop Airport (BBA), which handles 1.7 million passengers annually, would have no impact on the economy of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) because Pearson Airport, which handles 48 million, is a near-perfect substitute. If air travel involving the GTA increases and BBA isn’t expanded, the additional traffic would be handled and jobs to support it would be provided at Pearson. If BBA is closed, all its traffic and jobs to support it would shift to Pearson, and the size of the GTA’s economy would be unchanged.

I’ve mused that I could make this point more clearly by comparing BBA with an activity that has an irreplaceable impact on its local economy. It turns out that I recently encountered a perfect example of this at the cinema.

Native to Maastricht

I was watching the 20^th annual summer broadcast by the Dutch violinist and musical entrepreneur Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra. Rieu and his orchestra are based in his hometown of Maastricht, population 280,000. The broadcast, which I saw at a local Cineplex, is a compilation from this year’s concerts. Twenty years ago, Rieu approached the city of Maastricht with a proposal to give summer concerts in Maastricht’s Vrijthof, or central square, which can accommodate an audience of 12,000. Rieu made the point that most of his audience are not native to Maastricht.

This is the example I was searching for. An entrepreneur in a small town creates a unique event that attracts thousands of visitors to that town. In addition to attending the event, the visitors contribute to the local economy. And if that event were to cease, the visitors would disappear and there would be a major loss to the local economy. Much as I was enjoying the concert, I was eager to get home to do some research on the impact of Andre Rieu and his orchestra on the economy of Maastricht.

Rieu’s Economic Impact

I discovered that Maastricht commissioned an economic impact study by Zuyd University of Applied Sciences that showed that in 2019 Rieu’s 13 Vrijthof concerts attracted a total audience of 153,000, mostly visitors, and they spent a total of 30 million Euros on tickets and hotels and restaurants in Maastricht. The study points out that these people aren’t visiting Maastricht because they want to visit Maastricht but are visiting Maastricht because they want to hear Andre Rieu.

During the concert period, Maaastricht hotels are at capacity, a 100 Euro room costs 400 Euros, and some of the audience stay up to 100 kilometres away. ChatGPT revised the economic impact figure to 50 million Euros to account for inflation since 2019 and a new program of Christmas concerts.

Rieu is a very entrepreneurial musician. Rieu Productions Holdings earns over 70 million Euros in revenue from the Maastricht concerts, a travel agency to arrange trips to Maastricht for the concerts, international touring, recordings, and cinema broadcasts. The study didn’t attempt to measure how much of this revenue flows to factors of production based in Maastricht, but it must be considerable. If for any reason Rieu decides to move his company and concerts, the economy of Maastricht would suffer a major loss.

Rieu’s Emotional Impact

Economics can account for the impact of Andre Rieu on Maastricht’s economy, but it can’t explain what he does to attract his audiences. As someone with a good knowledge and lifelong love of classical music, I’ll attempt to explain.

Rieu and his orchestra deliver familiar and cherished “classics” to a delighted audience. This year’s concert included Tales from the Vienna Woods (Strauss, Jr.), The Blue Danube (Strauss Jr.), the Radetzky March (Strauss, Sr.), Entry of the Gladiators (Fucik), Light Cavalry Overture (von Supe), and Ode to Joy (Beethoven). The presentation also includes bits of musical tomfoolery comparable to Victor Borge and Peter Schickele.

Beyond that, Rieu chooses music to touch the audience’s hearts, and introduces it with contagiously emotional language. This year’s concert included the aria “Casta Diva” from Norma, the hit song “To Dream the Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha, and “Gabriel’s Oboe” from the movie The Mission. The latter was played on panpipes by Michel Tirabosco, a musician born with foreshortened arms and vestigial hands. Many people in the audience were moved to tears by Tirabosco’s remarkable virtuosity.

In contrast to the strict decorum of the classical concert hall, Rieu creates a permission structure for his audience to laugh, clap, cry, embrace, sway, sing along, and dance. The outdoor venue and scheduling the concerts at dusk and lasting into the evening heighten the mood. Much of the broadcast consisted of candid shots of the audience enjoying themselves.

Andre Rieu’s concerts provide a rare instance when economics and emotion come together. Rieu has built a global brand based on delivering light classical music to responsive and uninhibited audiences, and the citizens of his hometown of Maastricht have benefited from his talent.

People travel to Maastricht to hear Andre Rieu. People don’t travel to Toronto because they want to use BBA; they use the affordances it provides to reach a predetermined destination. Rieu’s contribution to Maastricht is unique and irreplaceable, while BBA’s small contribution to Toronto’s air travel market could readily be moved to Pearson Airport.