Fans snub costly UK music festivals

The soaring cost of tickets for music festivals is leading to fans travelling overseas to cheaper events, according to research by a money-saving website.

A poll found that nearly a third (32 per cent) of music fans now attend fewer festivals than they did in the past, while more than two-thirds admitted they would consider going to a European festival rather than one in the UK, with more than half (58 per cent) of these citing ticket prices as their main reason while nearly a quarter (24 per cent) also said the greater chance of good weather was a major factor.

The mother of all festivals, Glastonbury, cost just £105 in 2003 compared with this year’s fee of £205 before booking and postage costs – representing a 95 per cent increase, website www.watchmywallet.co.uk said.

But the Somerset extravaganza actually fared better than some of its rivals such as Bestival, which it said saw a massive 124 per cent price hike since it first launched in 2004, when a weekend camping ticket was just £85.

Meanwhile, Reading Festival and its Leeds counterpart have shot up from costing £95 a ticket in 2003 to £202.50, representing a 113 per cent increase, the website said. In contrast, overseas festivals can work out cheaper for revellers even when travel costs are taken into account.

This year Poland’s Open’er Festival costs just £112 for a weekend ticket, while early-bird deals meant it was possible to pick up a ticket for just £77 and super-early bird tickets for Soundwave in Croatia cost just £65.

Sean O’Meara, of Watch My Wallet, said: “While the economy has been in decline and people struggle with their finances, festivals have been consistently raising their prices year-on-year, normally by around £10 each time.

“When you add extortionate ‘handling’ or ‘booking’ fees, travel and expensive food and drink on site, festivals are quickly becoming as expensive as an all-inclusive holiday abroad in the sunshine.

“There are more and more festivals cropping up each year, which means there is more competition to get the big acts – and that often means having to fork out big payments, which are passed on to the festival-goer.

“Many of the music fans we polled admitted they now look at European festivals as a real alternative to UK events.”