Coronavirus – Balaton Sound, Telekom VOLT festivals to return in 2022

Hungary’s Balaton Sound and Telekom VOLT music festivals are being postponed until 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisers said on Thursday.

“For the time being, we don’t see the reality of international tourism returning to earlier levels by mid-summer across Europe, and the safety and health of our Hungarian festival-goers is our priority,” festival director Zoltán Fülöp said in a statement.

“That’s why we have had to take the difficult decision of opening Balaton Sound’s gates in 2022 at the earliest.”

Balaton Sound has established itself as a top European and the number-one Hungarian electronic music festival, attracting tens of thousands of domestic and foreign visitors each year, the organisers said.

VOLT festival founder Norbert Lobenwein noted that the Sopron event was the earliest one on their festival calendar, and was set to open in June this year. As day one was just over three months away, there was no choice other than to postpone it, Lobenwein said, explaining that with the third wave of the pandemic intensifying in the country, it was impossible to predict when tickets could even go on sale.

The organisers said they had considered staging both festivals late in the summer, but ultimately decided to delay them until next year due to the size of the events and scheduling conflicts with performers.

Read alsoFestival season to restart this year in Hungary?

Source: MTI