UK festival organisers want attendees to either be vaccinated or have recent covid tests before entering

In the UK, the summer festival season is looking up following a road map that states (if all goes to plan) that large events could take place after lifting all restrictions no early than 21 June. There are still concerns, though, that festivals may not be able to go ahead safely, and many are trying to come up with solutions for them to go ahead. One of the biggest solutions is vaccinations, and there are talks, by UK festival organisers, of festival attendees requiring a vaccination before they could enter the festival.

Two leading festival organisers in the UK are calling for this to be a mandatory requirement. Josh Robinson, who is the events director of popular drum and bass festival Hospitality Weekend in the Woods (looking to take place on 18 and 19 September) states the following:

“A lot of us want to urge government to follow the example set up already in other areas, like travel, where people will have to show proof of vaccination or of a recent test.”

It seems that either rapid testing or proof of vaccination is on the cards, and Gareth Williams, director of the folk festival Cropredy (looking to take place on 12-14 August), adds:

“What we really need is for [the] government to say everybody needs a vaccination to get in. We need that clarity, rather than each having to go to people and explain.”

The demand for tickets after the road map was introduced was undeniable. Creamfields sold out in a record-breaking time, and Robinson says that the demand for Hospitality Weekend was also unexpected:

“The demand is pretty unbelievable. It would normally have taken eight or nine months to sell that many. The roadmap has given fans the impetus to start buying, which is great, but we are operating like a bank or something, in a strange scenario where we are just holding people’s money in case we have to return it.”

Festival organisers in the UK are operating on rocky ground right now, being in a weird position to be able to plan for the festival season with a bit of uncertainty as to whether it will still go ahead.

Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash