The company behind Pokémon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and Ingress has announced the lineup of events they intend to release for 2020. According to Gamespot, Niantic intends for each event to be “immersive interactive experiences” tailored for each game. Players of Pokémon Go in Liverpool, Philidelphia, and St. Louis, as well as in Taiwan will be able to enjoy a series of Pokémon Go events. Gamers in certain areas of the Asia-Pacific Region, the European Region, and the Americas will also be able to enjoy a number of Ingress events.
Pokémon Go players in Taiwan will be able to enjoy the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Taichung event, which will be taking place from February 6th-9th. Meanwhile, players in Liverpool, Philadelphia, and St. Louis will be able to enjoy Pokémon Go Safari Zone events. Players in St. Louis will be able to participate in the Pokémon Go Safari Zone event from March 27th-29th, with tickets going live starting January 24th. According to pokémongolive.com, players will be able to catch Mankey, Unknown S, Snivy, Teddiursa, and Ferroseed. Players in Liverpool will be receiving their Pokémon Go Safari Zone Event from April 17th-19th, with tickets going on sale starting January 31st. Players in Philadelphia will also able to enjoy their Pokémon Go Safari Zone event from May 8th-10th. Unfortunately, no information has been revealed about when tickets will go on sale for the Philadelphia event, however, it is likely that the information will be revealed at a later date. No other details have been revealed about the Liverpool and Philadelphia events at this time, but more information will be revealed eventually.
Ingress will also have a number of events spanning from February 29th through May 9th available to a number of cities in a plethora of countries. Players in 15 cities across Asia, the United States, and Europe will be able to enjoy the Perpetua Hexathlon event which will take place on February 29th. Players in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Taichung City, Taiwan; Bogor, Indonesia; Baguio City, Philippines; Songpa District, Seoul, Korea; Moscow, Russia; Edinburgh, Scotland; Pilsen, Czechia; Budapest, Hungary; Valencia, Spain; San Francisco, California; Washington, D.C.; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Victoria, BC, Canada; Campinas, and São Paulo, Brazil will be able to enjoy the Lexicon Hexathlon event on April 25th. Ingress players in Munich will be able to enjoy the Requiem Anomaly on May 9th. There will be a Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Fan Festival later this year, however, no information has been revealed regarding the event.
It is unknown how these events will affect tourism in the above-listed cities but it is possible that it will boost both tourism and the economy of these cities. This can be supported by the fact that the last year’s Pokémon Go events in Chicago, Dortmund, and Montreal produced an estimated $247m in revenue from tourism as well as having a combined 189,000 trainers traveling across the globe to participate in the events.