Festivals in Hungary 30-60% more expensive in 2023 – here are the prices

Balaton Sound. Photo: facebook.com/BalatonSound

Concert and festival organisers considered uncertainties because of inflation and the energy crisis. The result was a brutal price rise: in some cases, even bigger than 50 percent. We will show you the prices and the reasons below.

Festivals will be very expensive

According to Világgazdaság, an expert told them the sectors suffered an average of 20-35 percent cost increase. András Süli, a board member of Music Hungary and the program director of the Campus Festival, added that the deviation is considerable.

He said that nobody knows the effects of the price rise on demand. However, there are warning signs. For example, fewer people buy concert tickets this spring than in the autumn and winter months. Of course, that does not mean a lot of people will not swarm some concerts and festivals buying last-minute tickets. On the low end of the list is Hungarian singer Demjén Ferenc with HUF 5,540 (EUR 15). The most expensive is the American Guns N’ Roses in the Puskás Arena, for which we will have to pay hundreds of thousands of forints.

Here is a summary of the costs of the biggest 2023 festivals in Hungary:

Sziget Festival (Budapest): full festival pass EUR 365, daily ticket from EUR 85
Balaton Sound (Siófok, Lake Balaton): full festival pass EUR 265, daily ticket EUR 91
Strand Festival (Zamárdi, Lake Balaton): full festival pass EUR 104, daily ticket from EUR 47
SZIN (Szeged): full festival pass EUR 106, daily ticket from EUR 42
Bánkitó Festival: full festival pass EUR 100, daily ticket from EUR 45.5
Campus Festival (Debrecen): full festival pass EUR 117, daily ticket EUR 48
EFOTT (Lake Velence, mostly university students): full festival pass EUR 112, daily ticket EUR 42.5
FEZEN (Székesfehérvár): full festival pass EUR 99, daily ticket from EUR 33
Kolorádó (Nagykovácsi, a village near Budapest): full festival pass 106 EUR, two-day pass EUR 67
SopronFest (Sopron, near the Austrian border): full festival pass EUR 106, daily ticket from EUR 40
Fishing on Orfű: full festival pass EUR 126, daily ticket EUR 48, but there are no more available tickets
Valley of Arts Festival (Veszprém-Lake Balaton): full festival pass EUR 120, daily ticket EUR 18

Labour shortage, energy crisis, inflation

Noizz said that compared to 2022 prices, these costs are 31 percent higher on average. Mr Süli said that the performers only reacted to global and national economic trends, so they increased their salaries. Since the sector struggles with labour shortage due to COVID, the prices can go even higher. Employers must compete for professionals. Süli highlighted that organising a profitable festival was a challenge even at peacetime.

Scrolling down in THIS article, you can find a chart comparing the festival prices in April 2022 and April 2023. In the case of the big ones (Sziget, Balaton Sound and SZIN), the price change remained in the 30-40 percent category. However, for example, in the case of the FEZEN, that rise was almost 60 percent.