I'm not a club owner but I work in the industry. If you want to take my word for it, many many people come in from around the region and spend money here whereas if you had a handful of scattered clubs, there would be no interest.
I've bumped into people coming from Buffalo three weekends in a row to party in "one of North America's most concentrated nightlife entertainment districts". I often see the same people who come from Hamilton, Cambridge, St. Catherines and even Niagara Falls almost every weekend.
I would love to see better studied numbers, but from what I can see, it is in plain view that Toronto's club district attracts people from around the region that otherwise wouldn't spend money here.
Even though I'm pissed at what Vaughan is trying to do (I'm his constituent, yet he's targeting my livelihood), I'm beginning to think that all he's doing is shifting the entertainment district around. The heart of it all is @ Richmond and John and before his crusade began, things were really hot on Peter also... but from the looks of things, it seems to be moving to King St. West (Pantalone's Ward). Century Room used to be there all by itself... then came Brant House, then 8 Below, then Atelier, then a bunch of restaurants, now Loki... a bunch of other one's are in the tube...
The Deputy Mayor will probably welcome the shift and even promote moving the whole thing even further west to Exhibition Place (not a bad idea since he's on the Board of Directors).
An Exhibition Place Entertainment District (currently Musik is all by itself there) makes good sense actually. It's a wide open space currently occupied by a massive parking lot, Exhibition Place is looking to remain relevant, it's very accessible via Lakeshore and the Gardiner without passing through downtown and N-S major streets such as Dufferin and Spadina, has access to the lake for party cruises and it's not far from downtown, but far enough to remain out of sight, out of mind of residential communities.
I'm gonna talk to Pantalone about this now that this came to mind...