By: Luisa Acosta, Samuel Fierro, Karen Molina and Isabella Lambertino
This is a free and independent space of expression that exclusively reflects the views of the authors and does not compromise the thought or opinion of the 2rds.
A stage, thousands of lights, crowds vibrating to the rhythm of its favorite artist and a local economy that breathes. Music, rather than entertainment, is also business. And in Colombia, during the last year, it was an economic engine. The tours of Feid, Shakira and Maluma not only excited their fans, they also left a mark on the national gross domestic product.
For decades, culture has been seen as an expense, not as an investment. However, the most recent wave of macroconciertes in the country – starring three of the most influential Colombian artists – demonstrated otherwise. More than $ 310,000 million pesos moved between ticket offices, transportation, tourism, accommodation, food and informal trade in musical events that, in addition to exciting, energized the economic apparatus.
Based on official data on mayors, chambers of commerce, tourist guilds and organizing companies, it is evident that the concerts of Feid At the end of last year in Bogotá and Medellín, respectively; of Shakira during the first quarter of this 2025 in Barranquilla, Medellín and Bogotá, and those of Maluma In the two main cities of the country they represented 0.0196 % of the national GDP of 2023, according to the registration updated by the Dane On March 28. At first glance, it seems like a small figure, but when its impact is analyzed in local economies and sectors such as employment, hotel occupancy and trade, the phenomenon takes a much broader dimension.
He Ferxxocalipsis In figures: Medellín and Bogotá caught with the Ferxxo
In December 2024, Medellín was paralyzed for three consecutive nights with the arrival of Feid and his tour Ferxxocalipsis. The figures speak for themselves: 159,000 attendees, $ 41,561 million pesos in profits and 7,000 direct jobs in just one city. According to the Medellín Economic Development Secretariat42.7 % of the attendees were visitors, and each spent an average of $ 99.3 per day (about $ 397,200 pesos), figures that felt in hotels, bars, stores and restaurants.
In Bogotá, where the event was also held on three dates, the impact was lower, but relevant: 60,000 attendees, $ 15,509 million pesos generated and 3,500 jobs. Adding both cities, the tour of Feid He mobilized 219,000 people, generated more than 10,500 jobs and left total income for $ 57,070 million pesos. A figure that many local governments would like to replicate.
Barranquilla, Medellín and Bogotá danced with Shakira… but they also invoiced
When Shakira announced his return to Colombia with the tour Women no longer cry World Tourfew things imagined as great as what really happened. In his native Barranquilla, his concert mobilized 85,000 attendees, with a 95%hotel occupancy, generating income of $ 67,000 million pesos and creating 12,000 jobs. Hence, according to the District Mayor’s Office and the City of Commerce, the event represented 0.095 % of the GDP of the Atlantic department and mobilized about $ 18,000 million in direct and indirect transactions.
In Bogotá, meanwhile, Shakira was no less shocking. 80,000 attendees were registered, $ 136,000 million in profits and a contribution of 0.13 % to the capital’s GDP during the first quarter of 2025, While the hotel occupancy reached 92 %, and only in items such as drinks, transport and souvenirs moved $ 28 billion.
The last stop was Medellín, with 69,310 attendees, $ 46,458 million in profits, 5,000 jobs generated and 95% hotel occupancy. In total, Shakira mobilized more than 234,000 people in three cities, with an economic impact of $ 249,458 million pesosso that the Barranquillera not only sang, but also promoted the economy of the country.
Maluma: The Pretty Boy that revolutionizes the map
Unlike your colleagues, Maluma He opted for a shorter, no less effective tour. In Medellín and Bogotá, the artist attracted 85,000 attendees, generated 5,500 jobs and left profits for $ 33,957 million pesos. However, the interesting thing about the case Maluma It was the behavior of tourism: 37% of the attendees in Medellín were tourists, and more than 20,000 people arrived from other cities in the country, spending an average of 500 dollars per person.
Although their absolute figures were lower than those of Shakira or Feid, Maluma showed that local urban music is also able to generate wealth beyond the show.
The balance: culture that produces, not to spend
In total, 561,310 people attended the concerts of these three artists in Colombia between 2024 and 2025. 39,000 direct jobs were generated and the host cities lived true spikes of consumption, tourism and hotel occupancy. The aggregate economic result – more than 310 billion pesos – may seem marginal compared to the $ 1,584 billion pesos of the national GDP, but represents tangible growth within the so -called orange economy.
For many analysts, this phenomenon is evidence that art, when connected to industry and public policies, can function as an economic development engine. A clear example is Barranquilla, where Shakira’s concert was planned together with government entities, generating not only profits, but urban planning for the city.
A call to strategic cultural investment
The data is on the table and indicates that culture is not expense: it is production, consumption, employability and tourism. Concerts like those of Feid, Shakira and Maluma They should be seen by mayor and departmental governments as economic development opportunities and not only as mass events.
Well, the results open the door to an urgent debate: why not include cultural sectors as strategic assets in national economic development plans? If a single concert can represent 0.1 % of the GDP of a city, what could be achieved with a permanent circuit of planned events and articulated with the productive apparatus?
The echo of a full stadium fades in minutes, but the economic footprint of a well -planned event lasts for yearsbecause the impact of the concerts of Feid, Shakira and Maluma They show that music is an industry that, while still being art, also builds country.
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