Ticket prices for Swiss concerts and music festivals hit record levels

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Ticket prices for concerts and music festivals in Switzerland reached a new high in 2023. The average price of a ticket rose to CHF89.86 ($100.50) – 3.9% more than in the previous year, according to the event organiser industry association.

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Ticket prices thus rose by more than 12% last year compared to pre-Covid 2019, according to a breakdown by the Swiss Music Promoters Association (SMPA). The members of the association of Swiss promoters of concerts, shows and festivals sell around 80% of concert, show and festival tickets sold in Switzerland. The SonntagsZeitung newspaper reported the figures.

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The number of events and sales at Swiss festivals were also higher last year than ever before. The SMPA counted a total of 2,754 festivals and events. That was almost a fifth more than in the previous year. The gross turnover of events also rose by a quarter to CHF478.4 million.

Despite more events, overall visitor numbers have not yet reached the pre-Covid level. Last year, the SMPA Index counted a total of around 4.6 million people. Before Covid, there were around one million more.

According to the SonntagsZeitung, the higher ticket prices are partly due to the increased fees for artists. According to industry estimates, a fee that amounted to CHF50,000 20 years ago is now between CHF250,000 and CHF500,000. Thanks to the oversupply, musicians can choose where they want to perform, it said. However, new formats and smaller events would find it difficult due to the increasing competition.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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