Ghent Festival: After seven days already more visitors than last year

The seventh day of the Ghent Festival brought 170,000 visitors to the East Flanders provincial capital on Thursday. This means that the festival already has more visitors than during the full 2019 edition. "The people of Ghent continue to party, and many party with us. The city has a playful and frisky atmosphere", says Festival Mayor Bram Van Braeckevelt (Groen).

With performances by the Belgian singers Sioen on the Korenmarkt and Camille on the Sint-Baafsplein, the seventh day of the Ghent Festival was a success: some 170,000 people came to the festive area. By way of comparison: the seventh day of the previous edition in 2019 counted 80,000 visitors, but then it was not a public holiday.

The first seven days of the festival counted a total of 990,000 visitors. That is already 20,000 more than during the entire 2019 edition, when the festival welcomed 970,000 people over ten days. It was also a very warm edition then. In 2018, the Ghent Festival counted a total of 1,290,000 visitors.

The Ghent Festival is a 10-day festival that takes over the entire city centre of Ghent. Besides stage events, there are also street acts such as mimes and street musicians. The festival starts on the Friday before the third Sunday in July and lasts until the fourth Sunday in July.

Together with the Oktoberfest in Munich and Las Fallas in Valencia, the festivities are among the biggest folk festivals in Europe. In 2021, the Ghent Festival was recognised as intangible heritage by the Flemish minister of Culture.

(AHU)

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