Spoleto's impact: 70,000 tickets, millions of dollars

Image by Piccolo Spoleto

The 36th annual Spoleto Festival USA wound down on June 10, and now the less artistic bean counting is complete. 

The more than 140 events drew some 70,000 ticket sales for $2.9 million in revenue. The overall economic impact of the festival on the Charleston economy is pegged at $55 million.

That's just under the estimated impacted of the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition at $67 million, or about five times that of the Wine and Food festival at $8.6 million, and more than the estimated impact of the cruise ship industry at $43 million

The festival is back in 2013 from May 24 through June 9.