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Coachella: A Music Festival with Twice the Air Travel

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival®, more widely known as Coachella®, is bringing in 46 percent more travelers by air than South by Southwest® (SXSW®), and 89 percent more than Ultra Music Festival this year, according to Allianz Global Assistance, a leading travel insurance and assistance company.

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Allianz Global Assistance analyzed customer trips to determine which popular U.S. festivals attracted the most travelers, and from which cities they are traveling.

From early March through late April, music and arts fans from all over the country will travel to participate in three of the top music festivals in the United States: Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.; Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Fla.; and South by Southwest (SXSW), in Austin, Texas.

Past Coachella festivals have drawn as many as 250,000 attendees from across the world, which means hundreds of thousands of people have bought festival tickets ranging from $429 to $1,000, not including the expense of travel to the festival, lodging, and more. Tickets for the Ultra Music Festival run from $380 to $1,500 per weekend. SXSW badges to access music, film, or interactive events through the festival cost $1,325 each, while a platinum badge to access all three types of events is $1,650.

Each year, Americans shell out thousands of dollars to participate in festivals across the country,” said Daniel Durazo, director of communications for Allianz Global Assistance USA. “Allianz’s Event Ticket Protector could reimburse up to 100 percent of the ticket price, including taxes and shipping, if you can’t attend an event because you or a family member gets sick, your flight is delayed, you lose your job, or a number of other covered reasons, depending on the product. Alternatively, the right travel insurance plan can additionally protect other pre-paid, nonrefundable costs, like flights and hotels, and assist with travel disruptions, helping you get to your favorite performance in time to enjoy the festival stress-free.”

Festival tickets are often purchased months in advance, leaving a significant amount of time for unexpected events to occur leading up to the big event. According to Allianz’s internal claims data, the top reason customers miss an event like a concert is due to a sudden illness, which often leaves little time to resell their tickets or transfer their registration.

SXSW, held March 8–17, 2019, is not solely a music festival but an annual conglomerate of film, interactive technology, and music. This year, the festival is drawing more air travelers from New York and Los Angeles than any other U.S. city. Noticeably missing from this list of top ten departure cities is San Francisco, the home of Silicon Valley’s tech professionals, coming in as number 20 in departure cities for the festival.

The top five domestic departure cities for attendees traveling to Coachella include New YorkChicagoWashingtonPhiladelphia and Boston. Weekend One and Two of Coachella are neck in neck for attendees, with 12.1 percent of air travelers arriving April 13, 2019 and 12 percent arriving on April 18, 2019.

Ultra Music Festival is drawing the most air travelers from cities including Los AngelesNew YorkSan FranciscoChicago and Washington. Much of the crowd, 36.5 percent, will be traveling on March 27, two days ahead of the festival’s opening day on Friday, March 29.

Allianz Global Assistance offers event ticket protection** through most major event ticketing providers and travel insurance** through most major U.S. airlines, leading travel agents, online travel agencies, other travel suppliers and directly to consumers. For more information on Allianz Global Assistance and the policies offered for travelers, please visit: http://www.allianztravelinsurance.com.

*Methodology: The data of U.S. travelers’ Festival season plans was gathered by analyzing the number of travelers that went through the online booking process of airfare and package paths for partners offering Allianz Global Assistance travel to generate itineraries for roundtrip flights from US airports to specific locations based on the respective location or near the location of the festival.

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival – Indio, Calif.

2019 Rank

City

State

% of Air Travelers

1

New York

NY

13.1%

2

Chicago

IL

8.3%

3

Washington

DC

6.8%

4

Philadelphia

PA

6.5%

5

Boston

MA

5.6%

6

Miami

FL

4.8%

7

Dallas

TX

4.5%

8

Austin

TX

2.4%

9

Atlanta

GA

2.2%

10

San Francisco

CA

2.1%

South By Southwest (SXSW) – Austin, Texas

2019 Rank

City

State

% of Air Travelers

1

New York

NY

16.5%

2

Los Angeles

CA

10.3%

3

Phoenix

AZ

5.4%

4

Miami

FL

5.4%

5

Dallas

TX

4.9%

6

Chicago

IL

4.7%

7

Philadelphia

PA

2.6%

8

Boston

MA

2.3%

9

Washington

DC

1.6%

10

Raleigh Durham

NC

1.5%

Ultra Music Festival – Miami, Fla.

2019 Rank

City

State

% of Air Travelers

1

Los Angeles

CA

10.9%

2

New York

NY

7.0%

3

San Francisco

CA

6.5%

4

Chicago

IL

6.2%

5

Washington

DC

4.9%

6

Atlanta

GA

4.3%

7

Denver

CO

3.3%

8

Philadelphia

PA

3.1%

9

Phoenix

AZ

3.1%

10

Boston

MA

2.9%