Bristol Balloon Fiesta to be shortened because of costs

The 46th Bristol Balloon Fiesta is to be shortened from four days to three

Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is to be reduced from four days to three after rising costs meant "something must give".

The Ashton Court event has been a huge staple in the city's calendar for almost five decades.

Ben Hardy, executive director, said the change would save money and safeguard the future of the event.

"It helps us get a more sustainable model and keep it in Bristol for many years to come," he added.

This year's 46th balloon fiesta will take place from Friday, 9 August to Sunday, 11 August.

In recent years the free, not-for-profit event has been blighted by poor weather as well as the pandemic, inflation and other rising costs.

In a change to previous years, there will be a city-wide celebration in the build-up to the event with "fiesta week" seeing hot air balloons popping up in local communities.

The Night Glow events will take place on Friday and Saturday nights

An economic impact survey identified the event as Bristol's most valuable outdoor event - injecting £22.2m into the city's economy in 2023 alone.

Some £14.7m of this was "new expenditure", organisers say, which without the event would not have been spent in Bristol.

Mr Hardy said costs in all sorts of businesses and the economy had increased and the event had also felt the impact.

He said pre-pandemic it cost £750,000 to stage the event but it had risen to £1.1m. However, the team had since managed to bring it down to £850,000.

"Just by moving it to three days we can save a little bit of money. It will solve some of the problem but not all of it," Mr Hardy said.

He added: "We are looking at needing to find another £100,000 to keep the balloon fiesta going. (Reducing by one day) saves about £30,000 - £40,000 so it's a significant saving.

"The whole event industry has seen a significant spike in costs post-pandemic. Those costs are starting to stabilise so we're hopeful for the future."

The shortened Balloon Fiesta will still include two Night Glow events, which will now take place on the Friday and Saturday evenings.

Organisers say a fleet of hot air balloons will pop up in local communities across the city in a series of local launches before the central arena at Ashton Court sets the stage for more than 100 hot air balloons to take flight, if weather conditions allow.