Following the Dutch government’s announcement, it seems that the festivals in the Netherlands have started revealing their plans for 2021. The government has reportedly announced that it aims to allow all festivals starting July 1, and shall also insure all the events being planned after this date that get canceled due to COVID-19.
It was last month when the Dutch government had announced a cancellation fund of at least Euro 300 million to allow the event organizers to plan for the second half of 2021 with the security that they shall all be covered if the pandemic stops the events from going ahead for a second year running.
This notification covers events that attract a minimum of 3000 visitors from July 1 through to the end of the year. The Dutch culture minister Ingrid van Engelshoven said that it is not reasonable to expect the masses to stand together on a field before that time. She further added that this fund is a dot on the horizon for the festival organizers; they can now fall back on the guarantee fund in which at least Euro 300 million has already been reserved.
The event industry has for long come to a standstill and therefore it is important to get it back on track.
In a statement on its website, Dutch drum ‘n’ festival Liquicity wrote that it’s indeed great news that the Dutch government has announced that they now aim to allow the festivals after July 1st. In case the festivals get canceled due to the changing Covid circumstances, the organizers are likely to be compensated for the costs. The festivals in the Netherlands are currently selling out at a record pace due to this new government announcement.
Liquicity that happened to be one of the few festivals in the Netherlands to offer timely refunds during the last year’s event cancellations and postponements in line with the Save Your Ticket Scheme has now revealed its plans for ticket warranties to ensure that the buyers are 100% risk-free when purchasing for the events.
Few Dutch festivals like Awakenings and DGTL that usually take place in the spring or the early summer have now revealed that they are scheduling to autumn to avail the cancellation fund.
Awakenings Festival will now take place across September 11 and 12 and the tickets are already sold out. The website notes that the COVID-10 pandemic is still not over but things are starting to look a bit brighter, and therefore they now aim for the second weekend of September.
The DGTLO Amsterdam has announced plans to run across September 11 and 12 at the NDSM Docklands.
It was last year when Germany had announced a similar Euro 2.5 billion event cancellation fund with the UK festivals waning that they need similar government support to plan for events to take place this year. However, the support has not been forthcoming and lead to Glastonbury announcing that its 2021 edition got canceled later that month.
