When Oasis returned to British stadiums this summer, hotel prices around venues jumped and flights filled fast. Commentators predicted that economic figures could show an “Oasis bump” – and indeed, air fares were the biggest driver of July’s inflation rise to 3.8% from 3.6% in June.
The idea is simple: a sudden wave of visitors meets fixed capacity, so prices rise. But, in truth, the more useful story is what this says about how people choose to spend, and how we should read one noisy month in the data.
