Without intervention, it’s predicted that the UK will see over 100 festivals disappear in 2024 alone 40 UK festivals have now been cancelled for this summer, and new reports have found that over 170 have disappeared over the past five years. The new figures were shared by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) – the UK’s leading not-for-profit festival trade association, which represents the interests of 202 UK music festivals, ranging from 500 to 80,000 capacity. In the new statistics, the association revealed that the UK has seen 40 festivals announce a postponement, cancellation or complete closure in 2024 alone.
The latest of which was the El Dorado Festival in Herefordshire, which confirmed its cancellation on Tuesday (May 21). In the announcement, festival organisers cited “a dramatic rise in operational costs..
. compounded by the impact of the increased cost of living on the festival industry and our community” as being the main factor. It is one of countless festivals that have been forced to shut down due to external issues and rising costs.
In the past five years alone, 172 festivals in the UK have disappeared. 96 events were lost due to COVID, 36 were lost throughout 2023, and now, 40 have already been lost since the start of the year. AIF has warned that this is a trend that will continue to grow without government aid, and revealed that, without intervention, the country will see over 100 festivals disappear in 2024.
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