New data released by Festicket and Event Genius based on recent bookings on their platform reveals encouraging news for the live events industry as it continues its post-pandemic recovery. The company has experienced a 172 percent increase in average order value for international bookings between 2019 and 2022, meaning that music fans are spending almost three times more on event trips — which tend to include various Festicket offerings such as tickets, accommodation, travel, and extras — than they were pre-pandemic.
The largest portion of international bookings for 2022, 31 percent, is being made by fans based in the UK, followed by the US at 28 percent, then France and Germany, both accounting for 5 percent. The countries with the most event activity and that are attracting the most fans from abroad, so far, are Spain, Portugal, and the US. Festicket notes that The Netherlands, France, and Germany, which are typically big event destinations, don’t have as many events on sale for 2022 and are seeing less demand, likely due to ongoing COVID restrictions.
The increased spending on events has also led to an increase in the use of flexible payment methods such as payment plans, which will continue to be an important offering in the near future to enable more fans to travel and attend events. According to Festicket’s data, 50 percent of international orders for events next year have used a payment plan, compared with only 12 percent in 2019. In terms of domestic events, the use of payment plans has increased from 7 percent of bookings for events in 2019 to 24 percent for 2022.
“As the live event industry continues to open up we expect it to unleash a wave of pent-up demand from eager event-goers who have been starved of live events for nearly 18 months,” said Reshad Hossenally, COO of Festicket and Event Genius, in a statement. “We are already seeing this play out with those events that have been brave enough to go on sale, such as the sellout Primavera Sound which we were the official payment plan provider for.”
He continued: “It’s also incredibly promising to see the willingness of fans to spend highly on future trips and that our alternative payment offerings are being well received by event-goers as well helping event organisers boost sales during these challenging times.