SEATTLE — An estimated 75,000 people attended Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC) in 2023.
All those people were expected to spend a decent amount of money while in Downtown Seattle.
To get a rough estimate of how much money was spent, KING 5 talked to more than a dozen people at ECCC. Their average answers for how much they spent on different categories are below.
- Lodging: $1,500
- Food: $300-$400
- Memorabilia: $300
- Costume: $75-$150
KING 5 knows the numbers above do not represent every single person who attended ECCC. Some may have spent less, others may have spent more. Taron Martin, from the Eastside of Seattle, shared his budget with us.
“I try to budget at least $3,000 because you never know what you’re going to find," Martin said.
Pre-pandemic, Visit Seattle estimated the 2018 ECCC would have a $22 million impact on the region. With the event being back at its normally scheduled time of the year, downtown stakeholders are hopeful more people coming to the event will mean the same, or better, economic impact.
"We're actually seeing it (attendance) rise year over year," said Fallon Prinzivalli, Emerald City Comic Con Marketing Director. "We see more people being comfortable, wanting to come back."
Prinzivalli said ECCC is extremely happy with how this year's event turned out. They want to continue growing the event and eventually, take over the newly opened Seattle Convention Center Summit Building as well as the original Arch Building.
ECCC 2024 is scheduled for Feb. 29-March 3. Ticket information for next year's event will be found here once updated.