Tomorrowland set to be at high risk of cancelation

The Coronavirus pandemic has really taken its toll on the music industry, with numerous events already getting cancelled, now the whole summer festival season is at risk, including one of the biggest electronic dance music festivals in Europe, Tomorrowland. The festival which is set to take place in Boom, Belgium, the last two weekends in July annually attracts more than 400.000 visitors from all around the world, which in times like this really doesn’t seem like a good idea. With no certain finish line in sight for the virus, we can only hope that things slowly start getting back to normal.

The mayors of Boom and Rumst aren’t too fond of the idea of the festival moving forward with their 2020 edition. The cancelation of the event isn’t in their hands, but they can share their opinion and give advice to the National Security Council of Belgium. For a local newspaper they said:

“As it stands now, we don’t think it would be wise to continue the 2020 edition, since we are in a federal phase, it is the National Security Council that has to make this decision, but we can send our advice to the Security Council and we will do that soon. Based on what we know now, it doesn’t look like an international recreational event in July could be a healthy consideration. It is time to clarify this.”

However Tomorrowland organisers are still hoping for a miracle, as they continue with the preparations for the event. They are currently in close consultation with the local authorities and waiting for the instructions of the national government. Debby Wilmsen, Tomorrowland’s press agent says:

“It goes without saying that the well-being, health and safety of our visitors, crew, neighbours and everyone else involved is in first place.”

On Friday afternoon the city councils and event organisers sat together to discuss the possible scenarios. One of the rumoured outcomes would be postponement of Tomorrowland until later in the year, when the whole situation with Coronavirus would calm down. But since there are hundreds of suppliers, freelancers, creative companies, artists and agencies involved for a successful execution of the festival, it is hard to say if everyone would be available for the new date.

Last but not least there is also the financial loss that needs to be considered. For the municipalities of Boom and Rumst the cancelation of Tomorrowland would mean approximately 2 million euros of loss. The mayors say that they are aware of possible outcomes and that they will start looking into different strategies, once they will know for sure what the fate of this year’s edition of the festival will be.

For now everything remains as it is, make sure to follow Tomorrowland on their social media and check their website where they will be posting updates regarding the possible cancelation of the event.

Image Credit: Tomorrowland