Balaton Could Be Sound Investment

The media giant in the process of buying the company behind Hungary’s Sziget Festival will also be pleased with the progress of Balaton Sound – one of the smaller events in the $30 million package – which sold out at the second time of asking.

Econet.hu Media, an international public company that also has telecommunications businesses, will have seen the attendance graph rise sharply from 8,000 per day to about 18,000.

Sziget Cultural Management Ltd., which has Sziget, Volt Festival, Balaton Sound and Felsziget in Romania, will also be pleased because it helps it toward the euro 785,000 annual earnings provision target written into the deal.

The festival is on the shores of Lake Balaton, central Europe’s largest inland waterway and as close as the landlocked country gets to having a seaside.

Dan Panaitescu, who books the international acts for the SCM events, said the fact it’s a very popular resort has led to people making it a festival holiday.

Balaton attracts a million visitors per year, including tourists from Germany and the neighbouring central European and Balkan states.

The acts helping make the festival a sound investment July 11-13 included Fatboy Slim, Massive Attack, Goldfrapp and The B-52’s.