We have gathered some pieces of advice on how to buy festival or concert tickets safely and preserve your belongings while attending mass events
Festival-goers guide: how to buy tickets safely & keep belongings safe. Source: unsplash.com
According to statistics of Festicket, the world’s largest online booking portal for music festivals, the number of travelers who went abroad to attend a festival rose by 29% last year. The most popular destination was Hungary with a 773% growth in festival visitors, but festivals in Portugal (127%), Spain (132%), Belgium (120%) and the Netherlands (104%) all saw massive growth in 2018.
Organizers gain a lot from this increased attention to music and cultural events. The live music industry claims big tours have become far more ambitious, and cost far more to stage as a result. Average ticket prices for big arena concerts have doubled since the late 1990s. Taking inflation into account, prices have risen by 27%. Industry data from Pollstar shows average ticket prices for the top 100 worldwide tours in 2017 rose by 5% to $84.63 (£61). In 2018, it cost an average of 94.31 USD to see an artist live in concert.
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These prices are significant, so many music fans can’t afford to visit festivals and concerts more often than once or twice a year. It becomes even more disappointing once you find out that ticket fraud schemes affect about 5 million people each year. In the USA only, 12% of surveyed festival-goers report they have purchased a fake concert ticket online.
Therefore, for this article, we have gathered some pieces of advice on how to buy tickets safely and preserve your belongings while attending mass events.
How to buy festival tickets safely?
- Use trusted and reputable online booking platforms. Avoid buying tickets on social networks.
- Pay attention to the price. Fraudsters often make their offers very lucrative. Remember that people rarely sell their concert tickets for half the original price.
- Beware of the absent SSL certificates. When the payment gateway is safe, a green padlock appears next to its URL. If it doesn’t, your data is unprotected.
- If you buy tickets from an unknown source, try paying with a credit card. This method is safer than a bank transfer. Perhaps, you can choose cash-on-delivery. Though it might bring additional expenses, you’ll pay only when you have your tickets delivered.
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How to keep my belongings safe?
- Take a minimum of belongings to a concert. There are different people in the crowd. Having all your bank cards and an expensive smartphone with you may not be a good idea.
- Put your valuables in your hidden inside pockets. Do not take out your cash. It attracts thieves’ attention.
- If you can’t leave your smartphone at home, back up the crucial and irreplaceable data.
- Mark your belongings with a name tag. Include your contacts. If something gets lost, people may return anything they have found.
- Insurance cover is a good way to protect your valuables. Before going out, take pictures of your belongings and store them on your home PC. If they are stolen or lost, you can easily file a claim. If the worst happens, call the police and your insurance company.
- Some festivals have paid locker facilities. You would be better off paying a few extra pounds than having your valuables stolen.
- Never leave your things unattended. If you’re at a festival lasting a few days where you sleep in a tent, hide belongings at the bottom of a sleeping bag at night and take them with you when you go out.
