Sziget Chief Organizer Satisfied with Attendance

We can't complain, this year's Sziget festival has a realistic total of 420,000 visitors, even if it is 30,000 less than last year. In 2022, the two-year hiatus due to COVID generated a huge demand for festival-going, Sziget's chief organizer, Tamás Kádár told MTI on Wednesday.

"During the two missed seasons, there was a huge anticipation in Europe to have fun, so when it was finally possible to go out again in 2022, people everywhere started to party in droves. Last year's Sziget was attended by many people who bought their tickets at the end of 2019 and then had to wait almost three years, but they did it," he explained.

He could not yet say whether this year's festival was profitable for Sziget Plc., as the final figures are still influenced by a number of other factors, including catering turnover, and much information is not yet available.

The six-day event, which closed at dawn on Wednesday, didn't have a sold-out day this year (Friday with Imagine Dragons and Tuesday's closing with Bille Eilish came close), but each day featured at least one global star, with Florence + The Machine, David Guetta, Mumford & Sons and Macklemore among others.

Tamás Kádár pointed out that Sziget offers a diverse program of events in the main stage and other music venues, as well as in the co-arts every year. He added that the festival took place in fifty venues and that the all-arts character is the backbone of Sziget, so they don't want to change this and are constantly working to make it even more exciting.

In response to a question from MTI, Tamás Kádár said that the prices at Sziget's catering units were high for the average Hungarian, but he said that the move to charge a maximum of HUF 2,500 for one main course at each venue had worked. "Another issue is that there is a food inflation of almost 50% in Hungary, which both operators and guests are struggling with."