Dutch theatres, concert halls, pop venues, event and sports organisers, museums and festivals jointly ask visitors to keep their tickets in order to support the cultural sector. The sector has jointly developed a scheme, with the support of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and in accordance with the rules of the ACM (Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets).
COVID-19 affects us all, including the cultural sector and sports. Many performances, festivals, competitions and concerts are forced to be moved or cancelled; museums and monuments close their doors. The various industry associations join forces and call on their visitors to keep their tickets until the doors open again: Save your ticket, enjoy later.
The organisations come up with appropriate solutions for the ticket holders, the visitors. As many new dates as possible are searched for for the events that cannot take place now and the original ticket remains valid. If such a transfer is not possible, if the event is permanently cancelled or if the ticket holder is prevented from attending on the new date, the ticket holder will receive a voucher worth the original ticket price, including (service) costs, which can be redeemed at a later date. This allows visitors to still enjoy a replacement performance, competition, festival, concert or exhibition. Ticket buyers are informed by the organiser concerned about the practical handling of their event and tickets. In many cases, ticket buyers can also choose to convert their ticket into a donation, supporting artists, makers and the people behind the scenes.
The joint scheme follows the rules of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) and is supported by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven: “These are challenging times for the cultural sector too. We can help the theatres, organisers, music venues and museums by continuing to go to the performances, only later when circumstances allow. Events are being moved now. Save your ticket and continue to enjoy culture. And if you can’t, ask for a credit voucher. That way you help the cultural sector to stay afloat.”
With ‘Save your ticket, enjoy later’, the sector hopes that ticket holders will postpone their visit to their favourite stage or event. This will enable the cultural sector and sport to absorb the major economic blow that the corona crisis is hitting them. This gives the sector room to work on new events in the future. This not only helps the organizers, artists and stages, but also the people behind the scenes who make these events possible, such as set designers, technicians, suppliers, creatives and other employees and self-employed people in the cultural and sports sector.
The organisers understand, of course, if ticket holders do not or cannot make use of this scheme for whatever reason; they can still claim their money back. The way in which the refund will expire is described in the ‘Ticketing arrangements corona crisis’ (In Dutch: Regeling ticketgelden coronacrisis) and is related to the date of the (original or relocated) event.
More information about ‘Save your ticket, enjoy later’ can be found at saveyourticket.nl.
Source: Press release
