The European Festival Awards is a competition of over 350 festivals from 35 countries of the European continent
The Umag based Sea Star festival was nominated in the Best New Festival category, after also winning an award as Best New Festival in Croatia, now joining the company of new festival stars at the European level, such as the winter version of the German metal giant Wacken, Belgian Cactusfestival or the exceptionally praised Portuguese Waking Life, Hrturizam.hr reported on December 9, 2017.
Results of a study carried out by the regional research centre TIM from Novi Sad have confirmed that the first edition of the Sea Star festival in the Istrian town of Umag contributed to the tourism economy of Croatia with over 60 million kunas.
The new festival organised by the EXIT group had to increase its announced capacity threefold from the first announcement to the opening, doubling the number of festival zones in the Umag resort Stella Maris, while the official data of the Umag Tourism Board state all accommodation capacity in town and the area were full. Compared to the pre-festival weekend, the increase amounted to 220%.
The festival hosted over 50.000 fans from 25 to 28 May of 2017, with 93% of them arriving from abroad. The study also confirmed that each visitor spent an average of 292 euros during the festival. This new recognition for Umag goes well along with the recently acquired European Town of Sport title.
The study of visitors also shows they spent an average of three days in Umag, arriving from around 40 nations, including Great Britain, The Netherlands, France as well as neighbouring countries such as Slovenia and Italy.
The average age of visitors was 26.2, mostly accommodated in apartments, private accommodation and hotels. Over 80% of them visited Umag due to the festival, while over 95% stated their opinion of Umag improved or remained equally positive after the festival.
Translated from Hrturizam.hr.
