Corona and inflation: Advance sales of concert tickets collapse - "Have 80 percent loss of sales"
Created: 09/20/2022, 16:31
By: Christiane Mühlbauer
Christian Gutmair organizes the performance of "Django3000" on September 22nd in the Tölzer Kurhaus.
There are still tickets.
© Merkur archive (hab)
After the summer holidays, cultural events are actually picking up speed again.
But this year there is a lot of restraint.
Because of Corona and inflation, organizers have mixed feelings about autumn and winter.
Bad Tölz/Lenggries – After the summer holidays, the cultural events are actually picking up speed again.
But this year there is a lot of restraint.
The organizers are looking at autumn and winter with mixed feelings - due to Corona and inflation.
"I've lost 80 percent of my sales," says Wolfgang Ramadan, for example.
The Ickinger has been offering the “Abo Tölz: BrotZeit & Spiele” subscription in the Kurhaus for many years.
He announces three events by mid-November: Han's Klaffl, Amy and Wally Warning and Franziska Wanninger.
Corona and inflation: concert ticket sales collapse - "fighting that it goes on"
The tickets are now sold individually, but this is going very slowly.
"Of 400 subscribers, I only have around 150 left," says Ramadan.
Advance sales have plummeted.
"It's not just the case for us independent organizers, but also in the area of state-sponsored high culture," says Ramadan, meaning theatres, opera houses and concert halls.
During the corona pandemic, Ramadan became active in the "Association for Pop Culture in Bavaria" (VPBy) to give independent organizers a voice.
With success: The Free State launched a funding program, which expires at the end of 2022.
"We're fighting to keep it going," says Ramadan.
By the way: Everything from the region is also available in our regular Bad Tölz newsletter.
If not, things will look "bleak" for cities in the country the size of Bad Tölz in terms of culture, Ramadan predicts.
"Because no organizer can keep his head above water under these circumstances." He feels "a great debt of gratitude" to the city of Bad Tölz, because they set up a culture fund.
Ramadan received support for its "Festival in the Rose Garden" in 2021 and 2022.
"That helped us a lot," says Ickinger.
Plans are already underway for 2023, and he wants to present the “subscription” program this year.
"We want to do it, but it's also a financial question."
Corona and inflation hit the culture industry: "Pre-sales are virtually non-existent"
Organizers Christian Gutmair and Sabine Pfister also report that ticket sales have collapsed.
"Pre-sale is virtually non-existent," says the operator of the KKK in Lenggries.
Because of the renovation of the Brauneck Hotel (we reported), she is moving all appearances to the "Kramerwirt" in Arzbach anyway, for example in the autumn of Hundling, Eva Karl-Faltermeier and Severin Gröbner.
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In terms of Corona, Pfister is waiting to see how the situation develops.
"We rely on personal responsibility and recommend testing before attending an event or staying at home with symptoms of illness."
Concerts and events despite Corona: "Many are now waiting for the Wiesn"
According to cultural organizer Christian Gutmair from Königsdorf, many people are now waiting for the Wiesn.
Gutmair organizes the appearance of "Django3000" in the Tölzer Kurhaus on September 22nd.
"The summer went great," he says in retrospect.
"You took everything you could because you don't know what autumn will bring."
Many no longer want to go to the concert with a mask, says Gutmair.
"And for many, the question arises anyway: pay for an admission ticket or heating costs." Gutmair also hopes that government funding for the industry will be extended: "We were able to survive with that."
Inflation in Bavaria: "It hits culture and gastronomy again"
For the time being, the city of Bad Tölz is planning all cultural events “quite normally”, says spa director Brita Hohenreiter, meaning also the Leonhardi ride and Christmas market.
"We need a lot of lead time for these two events." As far as concerts are concerned, for example in the series "The city with the special touch", everything also runs without restrictions.
"Should new Corona requirements come, we have experience and can implement them quickly," she says, for example, with a view to the seating.
Hohenreiter knows that advance ticket sales are often very bad, mainly because of the increased prices.
"It is bitter that the same sectors are now being hit again that suffered so much during the Corona period, namely gastronomy and culture."
Corona and inflation: Concerns also with the Tölzer boys' choir
The calendar of the Tölzer Knabenchor is traditionally full in the last quarter of the year, and this year – finally – again.
"But what we hear about the presale is scary," says choir director Barbara Schmidt-Gaden.
"The organizers are also faced with higher costs."
Only Christoph Kessler from the classic series "Quartettissimo" has not yet felt the impact of the slump in advance bookings.
163 subscriptions were sold for the upcoming season in the Kurhaus.
Kessler also benefited from the city's cultural fund and is grateful for it.
"Without this support it wouldn't work." If there were corona rules again, they could be implemented quickly.
The contracts with the musicians are designed in such a way that two performances in front of a reduced audience in Tölz can be performed again.
You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.
