Sziget Must 'Move Forward to Break Free'

The Sziget festival "must move forward to break free", according to its founder, Károly Gerendai. "Based on feedback from the audience and the media, the direction we have outlined is good, but many circumstances were not in our favor, so the numbers did not turn out as we would have liked," he said.

"Our main goal with this year's festival was to show where we want to go in the future. The reactions show that this test was a success, almost everyone received our efforts favorably. I think we put on a really good Sziget, which can lay the foundations for an upturn next year," he told MTI.

While last year's six-day festival attracted 416,000 visitors, this year fewer people, around 350,000-360,000, enjoyed the five-plus-two-day event that ended this Saturday.

"Last fall, we suddenly had to take over the festival from the departing foreign owners, and then political disputes almost brought Sziget to an end. In the spring, we were optimistic, but we will fall short of the hoped-for numbers," Károly Gerendai said.

Under the previous owner, London-based Superstruct Entertainment, last year saw a significant loss of HUF 2.8 billion forints (EUR 7.7 million), which this year – described as a ‘break-even’ or ‘investment’ year – had been expected to be reduced to HUF 1.5 billion with an estimated 400,000 visitors, a target that was not met.

The founder added that this is a watershed year, and it was a strategic decision to focus on development rather than cutting costs to avoid losses, as this would lay the foundations for a more successful future. He highlighted that there are three main reasons why the projected loss was higher.

"The organization and ticket sales started with a four-month delay, whereas previously we had sold a third of our tickets during this early period. The strengthening of the forint made the festival more expensive for foreigners, and the third factor was that among Hungarian ticket buyers, the extreme heatwave, drought, and questions about the power supply created a kind of disaster mentality, which dampened the mood for festival-going," he explained.

This year, the number of Hungarian visitors increased further, now making up 53% of the total, while the number of visitors from abroad continued to decline. Although more people came from neighboring countries, interest in Sziget declined in its major markets: the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy. Israel, Ukraine, and Russia saw a drastic drop due to the wars, and far fewer people came from very distant countries due to rising travel costs. Károly Gerendai said the decision to involve subcontractors as minority owners in Sziget Ltd had proved successful. He noted that the subcontractors, who have become investors, cover the largest professional areas, including security, cleaning, container, stage, catering, festival infrastructure, lighting, and sound technology companies. "This allows us to have a favorable impact on prices, and also brings in additional expertise, with which we can build a much more professional foundation for construction and development," he said.