82% of festival-goers say that free cancellation will be vital when booking for future events

With over a third of the world currently in some form of lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, the live events industry has taken a huge hit. But what about when the lockdown is lifted? Festicket surveyed over 110,000 festival-goers from countries such as the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands to find out how comfortable they feel about returning to live events.

Summed up in an infographic below, the survey found that 82% of fans would feel confident attending a festival within one to six months of lockdown being lifted. Within that group, 66% would feel confident enough to attend within one to three months, while 30% would happily do so immediately after lockdown is lifted. 

Understandably day festivals top the list of events that festival-goers will happily return to first once lockdown is lifted, however, just under 70% said they’d happily go to a weekend festival. Moreover, 59.5% of people said they would feel confident attending both domestic and international music events next year.

When it comes to booking for 2021, it seems as if most festival-goers are confident that 2021’s season will be unaffected, with over 75% saying they’d feel confident booking for next year within the next two months.

Similarly, festival-goers believe they’ll still spend big on their future festival trips, with 34% saying they’ll spend between €250-€500, while another 24% said they’ll spend more than €500.

However, festival-goers do expect live events to introduce a number of extra measures when they do return, including clearly communicating health and safety measures in advance, setting up hand sanitising stations, operating at a reduced capacity, and offering free cancellation on tickets.

Over 82% of festival-goers said that free cancellation would be a key consideration when booking future events. Festicket believes this will be a vital component in the industry’s recovery and is something it is championing through its FlexTicket initiative, which gives festival-goers peace of mind through a "no questions asked" cancellation period.

In the meantime many are watching live streams, with over 60% of those surveyed saying they’d watched one during lockdown. A further 58% said they’d happily pay to watch a live stream, either via a typical ticket or by donation. This is a trend that Festicket sees continuing, and is one that it is looking to adapt to through the launch of its live streaming platform Festicket Live.

On the survey, Festicket’s Marketing Director Luis Sousa said: “Despite all the current uncertainty, it’s reassuring to see a high percentage of festival-goers have a positive outlook for the live events industry, backed up by over 75% saying they’d feel comfortable booking events for 2021. 

“Unsurprisingly, we are of course entering the beginning of a ‘new normal’ for events where festival-goers – in the short term at least – will expect promoters and venues to adapt their offering to ease anxieties. We’ve already seen this in some venues that have begun opening their doors again, with measures such as reduced capacity and compulsory table service being part of the deal of reopening.”