Nicola MacdonaldCashless payment provider Cardnet and Hungarian festival organiser Sziget LLC have launched a joint company to provide festivalgoers with quick and easy payment options.
The company, called Festipay, helps organisers run cashless festivals by instead using its own Festipay card as currency. The card provides clients with comprehensive user data, festival visitors with a record of what they have spent and retailers with a safer working environment.
Over the past five years contactless festival payment has grown in popularity across Europe and internationally. In 2015 more than 90 per cent of Hungary’s top festivals were cashless, and at Sziget Festival 2015 Festipay and Mastercard contactless cards were used more than 2.4 million times.
Sziget CEO Károly Gerendai said: “Our festivals keep growing in popularity every year: in 2015, Sziget Festival alone welcomed 441 thousand visitors. At this point, having a fast and reliable payment solution that allows us to fully satisfy our visitors’ demands is critical. Fortunately, thanks to all the innovative work that has gone into the solution, cashless payments have gone from being a convenience to being viewed as a basic requirement by festivalgoers towards organizers.”
Festipay president Dr. János Kóka said: “Five years ago we started out with cashless payments, but now we need to go further and provide even more value: convenient and secure mobile apps, exciting new features, self-service machines, and integration with ticketing and access control, so that festivalgoers have an even better time at these events.”
After its success as Sziget 2016, Festipay will add new features to its service in the 2016 festival season. Users of the Festipay app will be able to top up their card using a registered bankcard and Festipay machines, similar to ATMs, will be available to use during festivals.