Market Report: Peru

Usually a thriving hub for international tours in Latin America, Peru’s live event industry is facing unexpected challenges of late due to a lack of major venues.

Primary ticketing
While Teleticket, CTS Eventim-owned Punto Ticket, and Joinnus have established themselves as leading names in the market, the arrival of Ticketmaster in Peru in 2023 has swiftly changed the landscape. The industry giant has created significant competition in ticket sales, challenging existing operators to evolve fast.

Punto Ticket general manager Paulo Antienza says: “This competitive environment also presents an opportunity for us to differentiate ourselves, leverage our strengths, and find creative solutions that set us apart and drive growth.” These include two-factor authentication security measures on user accounts. “This ensures that only authorised individuals can access their accounts, significantly reducing the risk of fraud and unauthorised access,” says Antienza.

The live events market in Peru is undergoing a frustrating period of enforced stasis.

Meanwhile, ticketing start-up Joinnus – a platform that allows the creation, promotion, and management of events – has merged with Peruvian financial holding company Grupo Credicorp in a move they describe as “a key factor for the ticketing company to reaffirm its leadership.

Secondary ticketing
Viagogo and StubHub are popular resale sites in Peru.

International/domestic splits & genres
Traditionally salsa is Peru’s favourite music, but urban and cumbia styles are on the rise, and there’s much enthusiasm around any first arrivals by major Anglo artists.

Cultural analysis
The live events market in Peru is undergoing a frustrating period of enforced stasis, since Lima’s key venue, the 9,000-cap outdoor Arena Peru, has been closed since 2022 following an overselling issue at a show by Juan Luis Guerra. While other large-capacity spaces have accommodated shows by the likes of the Jonas Brothers and Martin Garrix, this has caused a shortage of suitable mid-sized venues, which has stopped the market capitalising on the international touring schedules seen at the Movistar Arenas in nearby Colombia and Chile.

Taxes & charges
VAT is 18%. Additional charges vary.

Country Profile: Peru

Peru, a strong touring market for international acts, is a strategic stop for those visiting the continent.

Easily combined with stops in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, Peru’s touring market is centred almost entirely around the capital, Lima, which boasts nearly one-third of the national population.

Live Nation and Move Concerts both have operations in the ancient nation. In 2024, Latin promoting giant Move brought Interpol and Louis Tomlinson to the country, with British rockers Keane, Scottish band Travis, and Puerto Rican artist Young Miko all making stops there later this year. Live Nation delivered Brazilian star Anitta back in June.

American punk band Turnstile toured the region in April, backed by Live Nation, making a stop at coastal city Barranco’s 1,400-capacity Centro de Convenciones.

“When artists like Turnstile are able to make a small-hall LatAm tour financially viable, it will pay dividends for them in the years to come”

“When artists like Turnstile are able to make a small-hall LatAm tour financially viable, it will pay dividends for them in the years to come,” says Bruce Moran, president of Latin America at Live Nation. “They will have planted the seeds for greater success in Latin America.”

Local operators also dominate here, with Masterlive and Kandavu Producciones both delivering a handful of stadium and arena shows this year.

The books for Masterlive include one show from Niall Horan, a sold-out gig for Paul McCartney, and two nights from American bachata group Aventura, all at Lima’s Estadio Nacional. Masterlive will also bring Slipknot and Incubus to 18,000-capacity outdoor venue Costa 21 over the next year.

Kandavu will bring Smashing Pumpkins to the national stadium in November and has had a busy year with shows from Megadeth, Japanese kawaii metal band Babymetal, and the one-day Lima Music Festival.

Arena Market: Peru

Peru is a busy market and, in spite of recent economic troubles, it remains a staple destination on most Latin American tours. However, its capital city’s shortage of large, modern venues is an ongoing bone of contention among the nation’s promoters – even if the National Stadium of Peru is being upgraded for Lima’s turn as the host of the Pan American Games in 2027.

Specifically, the overselling of tickets for a Juan Luis Guerra concert at Lima’s outdoor, 9,000-capacity Arena Perú site in November 2022 – 14,000 people were reckoned to have been allowed in – led in turn to a series of cancellations and an announcement that the venue would be taking time to restructure and make improvements. The arena hasn’t reopened since, and while rumours of a purpose-built arena project in the 11m-strong city keep on bubbling hopefully away, there is nothing concrete yet.

Given that its northern and southern neighbours, Colombia and Chile, have two of the busiest indoor arenas on the continent in their respective Movistar venues, local feeling on the subject is increasingly resentful.

“The lack of suitable venues to hold concerts is costing formal concert entrepreneurs a fortune due to the number of cancelled and postponed concerts that we have been experiencing for a year,” says Alejandro González, CEO of Grupo Kandavu, a local promoter of long standing that brought The Rolling Stones to Lima in 2015. “The city needs an arena or a venue that meets everything necessary to receive large numbers of people, which is imperative in the entertainment industry today.

“The lack of suitable venues to hold concerts is costing formal concert entrepreneurs a fortune due to the number of cancelled and postponed concerts that we have been experiencing for a year”

“This also has to do with modifying certain laws and regulations that facilitate the need that we have. Nowadays, the public that attends concerts en masse is worn out and mistreated by the lack of venues. The experience of going to concerts is frustrating – sometimes it can take you double or triple the [duration] of the show you are going to enjoy.”

Currently, the best options are down on the city’s Pacific waterfront, where One Entertainment’s Arena 1 is among the foremost solutions. A $6m mobile geodesic structure on the shoreline, the venue can take 15,000 spectators, with various configurations enabled by mobile bleachers and inspired, according to developer One Entertainment’s Ramón Larrea, by the travelling structure erected in Lima by Cirque du Soleil.

Accordingly, Cirque’s Messi show is coming to Arena 1 in August, with Keane, Kim Loaiza, Ana Gabriel, and Louis Tomlinson also on the schedule this year.

Another new entrant in the same neighbourhood is the Multiespacio Costa 21, an 18,000-seated/3,500-standing outdoor space on the beach a little further down. Guests already this year include the auspicious likes of Jonas Brothers, Spanish rumba duo Estopa, Mexican siren Danna Paola, Dutch boy wonder DJ Martin Garrix, and Argentinian trap star Duki, as well as Puerto Rican rapper Farruko in June.

Both Arena 1 and Costa 21 are doing good business, but it is clear the city – the fifth-largest in South America, and the single biggest in the northern half of the continent – needs bricks-and-mortar reinforcements, and soon, if it is to maintain its reputation for a warm Peruvian welcome.

In musical terms, González says there isn’t much Lima can’t get excited about. “Peru is a very attractive place for all musical genres, especially for Anglo music, and even more so when [a big act] comes to the country for the first time,” he says. “By nature of my country, our favourite music is salsa but today cumbia and urban music have gained many fans, and it is possible that salsa is no longer the number-one genre in Peru today.”