United MileagePlus can convert points into Red Rocks tickets

United Airlines loyalty members can now use their benefits to purchase tickets to Red Rocks Amphitheater, the company said this month, reinforcing data showing that travel and tourism are critical to revenues at the airline-owned venue. city.

United’s MileagePlus members can redeem their miles for concert tickets (obviously not for all shows) instead of simply sending them out of state on other flights. The agreement, Announced Thursday, names Denver International Airport’s largest airline as Red Rock’s official aviation sponsor. A minimum of 11,000 points is required to request tickets for a couple.

Having an aviation sponsor makes sense for the historic amphitheater: the record attendance Red Rocks saw last year was driven in part by an influx of out-of-state visitors. They made up about half of all 1.4 million attendees and spent an estimated $305 million in the Denver metro area before and after the concerts — out of a total of $717 million from all Red Rocks attendees.

On most nights this season, about 25% of the audience will be from out of town, operator Denver Arts & Venues told JS.

A recent one AAA Travel and Bread Financial research also found that younger music fans help drive the overall increase in travel during concert season, especially at Red Rocks. Three in five Gen Z and Millennial respondents said they have traveled or plan to travel to events more than 50 miles from home in a 12-month period, such as concerts, comedy shows and sporting events.

“This compares to just 43% of Generation X and just 27% of Baby Boomers,” AAA said.

Artists themselves can also influence Gen Z’s travel behavior, as one in five travelers (20%) have traveled or plan to travel to a Taylor Swift concert, according to AAA. One-off and rare Red Rocks visits fall neatly into that category, with shows like Arcade Fire’s only 20th anniversary ‘Funeral’ performance in North America taking place at Red Rocks this year.