WOMADelaide plans for improved facilities, upgraded stages in bid to host festival until 2029

WOMADelaide organisers are planning ways to reduce the epic queues for toilets and food at future festivals as they seek to secure the event’s long-term future.

A 40-plus person line-up for toilets at WOMADelaide. Picture: Emma Brasier

Improved facilities such as toilets and upgraded stages are part of a funding proposal before the State Government to secure WOMADelaide until 2029.

WOMADelaide director Ian Scobie said that while he had “sympathy” for people who had to queue for up to an hour to use facilities on Friday and Saturday, the number of toilets met the requirements for an event of its size.

“It was certainly within the guidelines, in terms of all of the OH&S requirements,” Mr Scobie said.

“Certainly with a big event and a big audience, you do have queues.

“Our plans for the future … involves some support for infrastructure that will help with those kind of issues which we saw with some of those queues.”

Festival goers Maddi and Maddy soak up the colour and fun at WOMADelaide on Monday. Picture: Emma Brasier

Mr Scobie said WOMADelaide’s funding proposal for the five-year period until 2029 had been with Events SA since early December.

“It’s looking at what are the budget issues, what are the future plans for the event, and that’s what we put to government,” Mr Scobie said.

“It’s a combination of the services and the staging.”

This would include upgrades to smaller stages, similar to the way that its new Foundation Stage enabled such big acts as Florence + the Machine and Bon Iver to perform this year.

Premier Peter Malinauskas told guests at a WOMAD event to expect an announcement in coming weeks about an agreement to continue the Adelaide world music festival until 2029.

The current agreement with WOMAD’s UK parent body, which was founded by musician Peter Gabriel and producer Thomas Brooman in 1980 and held its first festival in 1982, expires next year.

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The Proclaimers play in front of a large crowd at WOMADelaide on Saturday. Picture: WOMADelaide/Wade Whitington

Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison said that festival events in the past three days alone had generated $128m for the state.

“These three days of the long weekend have brought in $128m to our visitor economy,” Ms Bettison said.

A record of more than 100,000 attendances were expected across four days at WOMADelaide, with the Botanic Park site fully sold out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and capacity crowds of 30,000 people on the first two nights.

Sunday and Monday were quieter, with tickets still available on the final day.

Ms Bettison said interstate and overseas bookings accounted for 50 per cent of WOMAD’s advance ticket sales.

The WOMADelaide crowd on the fourth and final day of the festival on Monday. Picture: Emma Brasier

Hotel occupancy in Adelaide on Saturday was at 94 per cent, eclipsed only by last week when UK singer Ed Sheeran performed and occupancy was at a Tuesday night record of 98 per cent – more than 10,000 rooms booked.

“This means a lot for our hotels, our restaurants, our bars,” Ms Bettison said.

The Adelaide Festival had reached 91 per cent of its box office target before opening, while Fringe was heading towards 1m ticket sales.

“What a great month we are having. Mad March is in our DNA and we love it,” Ms Bettison said.