Ticket prices of European festivals have levelled off in 2017 following a large hike from 2015 to 2016, according to IQ’s European Festival Report 2017.
Ticketing costs only increased by one per cent in 2017, from €146.22 (£129.24/$173.15) per ticket in 2016 to €148.36 this year.
Owing to a jump in the prices of talent and production after 2015, the cost of a ticket in 2016 rose by eight per cent. OpenAir St Gallen’s Christof Huber said this jump was in response to a combination of rising security and infrastructure costs and, especially, artist fees, IQ Magazine reports.
While 49 per cent of European Festival Report 2017 survey respondents raised ticket prices in 2017, 36 per cent maintained pricing at last year’s levels.
More than 11 per cent of festival organisers around Europe in 2017 made the decision to drop their ticket prices. The reasons some gave for this decrease included fewer festival days, which warranted a price break, as well as some events not being able to secure any big-name artists.
The survey also highlighted the dominance of online sales outlets was much more distinct than in 2016 with festivals’ own websites increasing their share to an impressive 60 per cent, while third-party website sales also gained more of the market with 30 per cent of overall festival ticket sales.
To compare, in 2016, IQ Magazine reported that, overall, 51 per cent of tickets were sold via the festivals’ own websites, while third-party online sales accounted for 27 per cent of total sales.
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