Shakira stadium concert boosts Fresno economy. Here’s how much visitors spent
Shakira not only attracted throngs of locals to her sold-out concert last week at Valley Children’s Stadium, she also pulled in fans from far beyond Fresno, providing a strong economic boost for the city.
A total of 9,718 visitors who live at least 50 miles outside of Fresno attended the Shakira concert and spent $2,142,286 on lodging, transportation to food & beverage, retail and recreation, according to the tourism agency Visit Fresno County.
“I think these numbers definitely exceeded expectations. We were not expecting flights for the Shakira concert, so that was wonderful to see,” said Lisa Oliveira, CEO of Visit Fresno County.
Oliveira said visitors came from Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Florida, and Illinois. She added that, regionally, several hundreds of attendees traveled from cities such as Sacramento, San Francisco, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Over 17 hotels in Fresno and more than six in Clovis hosted visitors, resulting in more than 300 room nights booked.
“I think Fresno is the perfect spot — centrally located so visitors can easily drive in, explore the area, and spend their dollars here, allowing us to reinvest that money back into our community,” she said.
Oliveira said Visit Fresno County gathered these figures using an event impact calculator from Destinations International and Placer.ai, which analyzes cellphone and geolocation data to track visitor movement.
This data shows what zip codes visitors are from and where in Fresno County they stayed, shopped, and dined. The tool also factors in Fresno’s local tax rates to ensure the results reflect the area’s specific economic impact.
“We can know, for example, that a visitor went to DoubleTree, went to eat dinner, then went to Valley Children’s Stadium to see Shakira and went back to DoubleTree,” Oliveira said.
Garrett Klassy, Fresno State’s Director of Athletics, said the Shakira concert surpassed expectations for out-of-area impact — especially considering it was the first concert held at Valley Children’s Stadium.
“It validated the belief that our venue can be a powerful driver of regional tourism and economic activity,” Klassy said.
He said Fresno State plans to continue hosting marquee events at Valley Children’s Stadium.
“We see concerts as a way to energize campus, support local businesses, and generate new revenue streams that benefit both the university and the broader community,” Klassy said.
This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 6:30 AM.
