Sziget attendance plunges as founder warns festival must “move forward to break free”

The Sziget festival “must move forward to break free”, its founder Károly Gerendai said on Saturday, the final day of the event. “Based on feedback from the audience and the media, the direction we have outlined is good, but many circumstances were not in our favour, so the numbers did not turn out as we would have liked,” he told Hungarian News Agency MTI. “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 favourably. I think we put on a really good Sziget, which can lay the foundations for an upturn next year,” he stressed. Last year’s six-day festival attracted 416,000 visitors, but this year fewer people, around 350,000–360,000, enjoyed the five-plus-two-day event. Károly Gerendai explained three main reasons for the lower attendance: a four-month delay in ticket sales, the strengthening of the forint making the festival more expensive for foreigners, and extreme heatwave conditions dampening Hungarian visitors' enthusiasm. Under the previous owner, London-based Superstruct Entertainment, last year saw a significant loss of 2.8 billion forints (EUR 7.7m). This year, the festival was expected to be a break-even or investment year with 1.5 billion forints in losses, but the target of 400,000 visitors was not met. Gerendai emphasized that this year was a strategic decision to focus on development rather than cost-cutting to avoid losses. The founder also noted the involvement of subcontractors as minority owners in Sziget Ltd, which proved successful by bringing in additional expertise in areas like security, cleaning, stage, catering, and sound technology. This collaboration helped reduce costs and improve professional standards. Gerendai highlighted the festival’s strengths, including a diverse cultural experience, a holiday atmosphere, and Budapest’s role as a world city. He stressed the need to rebuild Sziget’s international network of representatives in 26 countries to strengthen its appeal. Two major problems remain unsolved: the long-overdue renovation of the K-bridge leading to Hajógyári (Óbudai) Island and efforts to make the festival dust-free through water sprinkling. The involvement of Budapest Park gave the festival’s stage for Hungarian artists a prominent place again, which the audience liked. However, Gerendai noted that having multiple concerts in the same rock category simultaneously sometimes attracted fewer spectators. The main stage concerts this year, including Twenty One Pilots and SOMBR, were well-received. He also pointed out that the previous model of relying solely on strong headline line-ups is less effective compared to other major European festivals. Gerendai concluded that Sziget’s future must include factors beyond just a strong lineup to remain uniquely attractive internationally.