Music News

WOMADelaide organisers have announced that the four-day festival format – introduced as a one-off to celebrate the 50th Adelaide Festival in 2010 – is here to stay.

WOMADelaide Director Ian Scobie said the resounding success of the 2010 experiment and particularly the overwhelming support by patrons encouraged the decision to make the four-day format a permanent fixture.

“Not since the event became annual in 2003 have we had such a tremendously positive response and extending the festival to four days was an equally big leap of faith” Mr. Scobie said.

Attendances at the four-day festival were over 81,000 (a figure not including children under 12 years) representing a jump of 13% from the 2009 festival but with the four-day format patrons experienced a significantly more relaxed tempo for the event.

The other exceptional statistic was that a record 50% of attendees travelled from interstate to specifically attend WOMADelaide 2010, highlighting not only the festival’s high national profile as a major event but also its significant tourism and economic value to South Australia.

Surveys estimated WOMADelaide patrons from interstate stayed 56,300 visitor nights and spent approximately $8.2 million (excluding tickets) in South Australia directly attributed to the event.

“When we first staged the festival in 1992 I doubt we could have foreseen the remarkable cultural, tourism and economic impact WOMADelaide would have on Adelaide, “said Mr. Scobie.