quote:

Press release by Loveparade Berlin GmbH. No Loveparade Berlin 2004 Berlin, April 14 2004 We are terribly sorry to announce that this year's Loveparade will not be celebrated. Due to a lack of financial resources - and only three months remaining to get this straight - there is no other way but to cancel Loveparade Berlin 2004. Ever since the Loveparade lost its status as a demonstration in 2001, constant financial losses were the case. Until 2002, these losses were paid for with our own savings. The main reason for these losses were the high production costs, which resulted from its new status as a regular event. These additional costs added up to more than 900,000_. The general business situation remaining over the last years has not only affected Loveparade itself, but also a great many of our partners (in the advertising, TV, and record industries), which added to our bad financial situation. In 2003 it was the support of Messe Berlin who helped out with the necessary budget. Nevertheless, this year's conferences with the Berliner Senat and the Messegesellschaft did NOT end with a financial solution for the Loveparade even though we had tried to cut all possible costs. Furthermore we thought about financing the event with tickets, but we eventually came up with the decision that this would be the wrong thing to do: It would turn the initial ideas of Loveparade as an "event open to anyone" upside down. We are planning to meet in the near future in order to discuss our next steps and the conditions which could make future Loveparades possible. After the third Loveparade Mexico City took place in March (with round about 250,000 visitors), the FIRST San Francisico Loveparade is due on September 25. Furthermore, Tel Aviv will celebrate its sixth Loveparade on August 27. Figures: Estimated number of visitors over the last years 2001: 1.000.000 2002: 750.000 2003: 750.000 Production cost at the time Loveparade was still an official demonstration (2000): 301.700 Euro Production cost of Loveparade as regular event (2003): 1.225.000 Euro Business Figures on Loveparade: The only reliable study on this topic was done by FfH. They found out that the 500,000 visitors of Loveparade 2000 spent some 50 Mio. _ in Berlin. This amount of money can be considered an additional profit. The study bases these figures on the the assumption that each visitor (only those who don't live in Berlin) spent circa 125 _, 23% of which were spent on luxury items, 21% on "Shopping", 18% on Clubs, Museums, etc., and 10,2 % for accomodation. At this point the parade was free of charge for visitors. Get more info at: Loveparade Berlin GmbH Friedrichstrasse 119, D 10117 Berlin Fon +49. 30. 3088 12 0 Fax +49. 30. 3088 12 55 (source: http://www.loveparade.net/portal/lo...news_index.html)

Such a shame Glad to see it's still going on in other parts of the world, though, and starting in San Francisco this year.