Describing a festival: Novarock Festival, Austria Istvรกn Hodos Business areas: Tourism (BBN-ANB-266) Mรกria Adorjรกn
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Successfulness of the event The festival is very well known in its surrounding region. The choice of the location was a well achieved strategical decision. The Hungarian and Slovakian border is in the reach of a few kilometres, and the overland route connections are very good with Germany as well. The organizers’ support a quantity policy as for the accommodation and supplying sector is underdeveloped. The festival host’s a Blue and a Red Stage and that’s all. In turn we get 18 concerts per day with as renown bands as Metallica and System of a Down. Events of this kind had a niche in the region before Novarock started in 2005. But the targeted consumer segment doesn’t have many expectations as well, and where they have (bands) they are served excellently, so it is not a coincidence that Novarock Festival had 160.000 visitors last year.
Business model As any big festivals, Novarock has several sponsors from the food industry as well. Companies as big as Coca – Cola, Red Bull or Ottakringer line up behind the festival to maintain a partnership which is mutually beneficial for both of the sides. It is interesting that
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Persil, a washing powder is sponsoring the event. This was a really good idea from the marketing experts of the company because things could get messy at an event like this. However the accommodation sector is not very well presented, simply because of the lack of infrastructure. The event is organized on a corn field several kilometres away from any habitation, so people have to sleep in tents and caravans. There are separate campings for the ones arriving with a caravan bus, and for the ones who wish to sleep in a tent. It is a good idea that you could rent a tent. Although, the small village Nickelsdorf, and the Hungarian border crossing Hegyeshalom with its Paprika Csårda are only few kilometres away, and they could host a few beds for the attendees with greater expectations, but this is not typical. The transportation is not very well structured, the organizers expect you to arrive by car or by bus. It is a good thing that there is a guarded parking lot for the visitors arriving by vehicles. Due to this factor, there are special trains and busses from Vienna to Nickelsdorf, but several individuals organize bus trips to the festival as well, however these tours are not connected with the festivals operations. A very popular decision from the organizers is that they separated the camping and concert areas. Because they have a policy that you could bring in any food and drink (including alcohol) to the camping sites, but nothing to the concert area. Which is a very fair and visitor friendly policy. Due to this, many attendees bring their own food to the event but a wide range of food service is present as well from hot – dogs to grilled sausages. To help navigation, the campings have labelled street names like Slayer or Metallica. The camping sites does not come with additional prices, any fee is covered in the ticket. The major expenses of the events are the utilities, rent, advertisement, payment for performances, payment for tourist organizers, copyright of music, taxes, insurance etc. But the organizers trying to save money on the workforce, for example there are positions for thrash collectors, whom get a free entry to the festival for their work.
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Describing the visitors Domestic and inbound tourists are very well represented at the festival as well. This derives the target group to heavy music oriented Austrians, Germans, Slovakians and Hungarians between the age of 16 – 30(+). The visitors are mainly niche tourists, as for the most of them only visit music events in their free time and not interested in any cultural sights or factors. Music is the one and only linking point among them.
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The touristic impact of the event When it started in 2005, the festival catered approximately 30.000 visitors, then only in seven years’ time, this data multiplied by five times, because in 2012 this number was 160.000 visitors. With ticket prices around 130 EUR, the average amount of money spent by one individual is around 100 EURs during the whole event. Obviously, visitors from more fortunate development countries could spend more than Eastern – Europeners. As to eliminate this shortcoming, the ingenious Hungarians developed a very easy resource saving method. With every beverage purchase one has to pay for the so called re – glass as well. This fee is 1 EUR, and obviously if one brings back the re – glass, they get back the 1 EUR fee. Now, if one starts collecting these glasses it automatically derives that after a time your entire staying could be “free”, and mayhap if you are a talented collector your whole ticket pays back. Of course the shopping lane, is not for the segment mentioned above. One could fine craftsman products from individual entrepreneurs, but an official stand for Novarock is present as well where one could buy T – shirts, flags, necklaces and so on. There is a small amusement park as well, but rides are quite extensive, and many visitors not came to ride the carousels, but to enjoy the professional performances. The event did not have any cultural tents, or culture street etc. which are common at festivals. This is simply because the concerts start between 12:00 – 13:00 every day, and no one has any time for this kind of amusements. However it comes from the great cultural mix that the most frequently spoken tongue is English which everybody speaks a little bit. But this is not a problem at all. People come here only to enjoy music and get to know other people from their scene, at an event like this there is no place for cultural stands, simply because there is no cultural diversity. Everyone has the same culture which is music, and one could perfectly find a chatting partner after the concerts in the area named Party Zone.
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Areas of excellence and areas of improvement There are of course some areas where the event indigent. For example the mobile toilettes and showers are way to overcrowded, not they are not cleaned regularly. This one could lead to serious consequences because of the contagiousness of the material in speak of. The labelled street names in the camping sites are a very good idea but the camping could use a bit more of lights during the night. In bad weather, the whole site turns in to a swamp full of mud, which encumbers traveling between the stages. And due to the isolation of the whole festival area, it could come hard to find any medical support in cases of injuries.
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EVENT FACT SHEET Name of the event:
Novarock Festival
Date:
14-16 June 2013
Time:
12:00
Location:
Pannonia Fields II, Nickelsdorf, Austria
Guests:
Heavy music oriented between 16-30(+)
Purpose:
Entertainment
Headliner bands 2013:
Rammstein, Kiss, A Day To Remember, Airbourne, Amon Amarth, Bring Me The Horizon, Bullet For My Valentine, Coal Chamber, Deichkind, Five Finger Death Punch, Heavens Basement, HIM, Johnossi, Kings Of Leon, Parkway Drive, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Volbeat, Within Temptation
Statistics:
160.000 visitors per year (based on 2011 data)
Cost per person:
143 EUR
Sponsors:
Volume, Persil, Ottakringer, Coca - Cola
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WĂźstenrot, Raiffeisen Bank, laut.de, NĂśn, Xpress etc. Contact:
Ewald Tatar, Mail: Michael Koch Strasse 5 7210 Mattersburg Tel.: +43 2626 65601
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Sources http://diepresse.com/home/kultur/popco/Festivals/489321/Das-Festival-derSuperlative_Nova-Rock-in-Zahlen http://novarock.at
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