SPRING | COVER FEATURE
a ticketing system with Secutix , enabling us to offer shared tickets , which means I can go one day and you the next . You can also buy a day ticket in advance of the line-up announcement , so once that has been announced in March you have one week to select the day you would like to attend .”
Borderline success “ In the far northwest of Ireland , set alongside sweeping sandy beaches framed by a rugged mountainous backdrop , the Sea Sessions Surf & Music Festival has grown substantially since it was launched in 2008 . Located in Bundoran , Donegal , it is pitched as Ireland ’ s biggest beach party . The festival has a 10,000 capacity and has attracted acts such as Kasabian , Dizzee Rascal , Clean Bandit , Paul Weller and Tinie Tempah to its stages .
Post-pandemic , the festival is seeing less demand for weekend camping in favour of day tickets , according to festival director Ray O ’ Donoghue . He says , “ It ’ s like a post pandemic symptom , people are just a little bit fussier ; they want to have more creature comforts . Last year we had our highest day ticket sales yet .”
The festival has not been immune to the impact of rising costs . It is located in the Republic of Ireland only 5 miles from Norther Ireland , so O ’ Donoghue has been given a very
clear perspective of the impact of Brexit on the cost of items coming from the UK compared to the EU .
“ We ’ re kind of cross border , because we ’ re geographically in the Republic of Ireland but very close to Northern Ireland . That means
around half of our suppliers come from the Republic of Ireland , and the other half are in the UK . We have definitely seen UK prices go up more than the European or Irish prices .” He says that among the areas seeing the highest cost inflation is transport and labour , the latter being up 50 %. To help mitigate the financial impact of soaring expenditure ,
“ It is tough right now , we are struggling with headliners .”
– Sziget Festival ’ s Márk Bóna
O ’ Donoghue says his team is focusing on driving an increase in attendees from further afield .
“ It ’ s a stunning location on the coast overlooking over Tullan Strand , which is one of the most beautiful places in Ireland . Some 85 % of festivalgoers come from the Republic of Ireland , with the remainder being from the UK and Europe . The numbers of visitors from further afield has gone up since the pandemic and we are now looking to market it to attract more people from the mainland Europe .”
The incomers Among the promoters already doing a great job of attracting tourists is Malta ’ s 356 Entertainment , which contributed € 51.8m to the country ’ s economy last year having staged festivals and events including SummerDaze ( 30,000 ), Days Like This ( 3,500 ), Defected ( 5,000 ), Elrow ( 5,000 ) and XXL ( 7,000 ). With around 90 % of its events tickets sold to tourists , this year 356 plans to launch new festivals in Malta including RONG Open Air Festival , Sunny Side Festival and XXL .
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