Every 12 months, the world's largest folks competition breaks information. But for town of Munich, the Oktoberfest is above all a key financial issue. A take a look at the figures makes this clear. What is surprising, nevertheless, is the “beer theft” of holiday makers – and the variety of “beer corpses”.
Another information level can be added to Munich's most essential statistic this Saturday at 12 midday sharp: How many hits will Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) want this 12 months to faucet the primary beer keg within the Schottenhamel competition tent and thus open the biggest folks competition on the planet? It's exhausting to beat final 12 months's efficiency, when Reiter solely wanted two hits.
This could seem something however related exterior of the Bavarian capital, however for a Munich mayor, this most essential process of the 12 months is all the time a matter of honor. The matter is taken very severely.
No marvel, in any case, the Munich Oktoberfest is an actual financial issue: town places the worth of the competition at 1.49 billion euros final 12 months. On the Theresienwiese alone, the competition grounds that give the Oktoberfest its nickname “Wiesn”, the 7.2 million guests in 2023 spent round 618 million euros on beer, rooster, carousels, curler coasters and sweet floss.
Each Wiesn visitor spent virtually 86 euros per go to within the beer tents and rides. Visitors spent virtually as a lot as they did on the competition grounds, 559 million euros, on lodging and eating places in Munich, plus taxi rides, subway tickets and different purchases. The reality that there’s nonetheless cash left for buying is astonishing given the beer inflation of current years.
Only ten years in the past, breaking a historic restrict on the worth of beer made headlines: At that point, a liter of beer value 10.10 euros within the first tents on the Oktoberfest, marking the primary time the worth had risen to a double-digit euro quantity.
However, Oktoberfest guests can be delighted with such a cut price this 12 months. Since 2014, the worth of beer has elevated by 50 %, and relying on the tent, in 2024 you’ll have to pay between 13.60 euros and 15.30 euros for a liter of beer – plus a tip.
In very uncommon instances, you really get a liter of beer for that. Because the folks competition in Munich is a critical matter, client safety will not be uncared for: yearly, town's district administration division carries out random checks to see whether or not sufficient is being poured.
The result’s sobering yearly – within the truest sense of the phrase. Last 12 months, simply 17.3 % of the beer mugs examined had been crammed to the calibration mark. Or to place it one other manner: 4 out of 5 mugs contained too little beer. Inspectors turned a blind eye to 56.4 % of instances as a result of the quantity of beer was nonetheless inside the tolerance vary, they usually despatched 26.3 % again and refilled them.
But even the poorly crammed mugs had been sufficient to trigger 887 so-called beer corpses in 2023 – that’s, guests who needed to be cared for by the emergency providers due to “intoxication”. Perhaps that they had not supplied the precise basis: historically, half a grilled rooster is a part of the Oktoberfest.
Last 12 months, guests ate virtually 400,000 items – however 5 years in the past, earlier than Corona, the quantity was ten % extra. Meanwhile, greater than 145,000 vegetarian and vegan dishes are eaten on the Wiesn – but in addition 142 entire oxen.
Philipp Vetter is a enterprise correspondent in Berlin. He reviews on the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Economic coverage, Energy coverage, Transport coverage, mobility and the Deutsche BahnYou can subscribe to his unique WELTplus e-newsletter subscribe right here. Since 2021 he has been co-host of the WELT podcast “Everything on shares“.
Philipp Vetter
https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article253609246/Oktoberfest-Hotels-Achterbahnen-Hendl-Bier-Milliardengeschaeft-mit-dem-Volksfest.html