Skye music festival cancelled
Just as we reported earlier that the Scottish Government is making unrealistic calls for a 50% increase in Scottish tourism over the next decade, and have hinted that they’re looking in the wrong place by chasing per head revenue (not numbers), another potential attraction has been cancelled.
This time it’s the Isle of Skye Music Festival, launched in 2005, and voted the UK’s most fan-friendly event in 2006.
Reported to still be owing payment to some who took part in last year’s event, the organisers are said to be £500,000 in debt, and the administrators have been called in.
As with the government’s call to skim more-per-head off rich tourists visiting Scotland, instead of ensuring greater numbers by providing more reasons to visit, it appears the Skye festival made the mistake of aiming for big, money-guzzling names to headline the festival, and spent large amounts of money on the likes of Kasabian, Primal Scream and KT Tunstall. Anticipating 8,000 people a day to attend, they admit to achieving only half that number.
In their own words, they jumped out of their league.
With luck, the event may survive in future, and may even grow into that bigger league, but will have to recover, and be re-incarnated as something smaller to attract a returning audience that can be grown, and not just be a flash in the pan.
However…
All is not ‘Doom and Gloom, as Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, attended the opening of an £8 million Gaelic Media Centre on the island today.
