According to Lagoa council, this year’s event enjoyed the highest number of ticket sales and revenue ever, with a total of more than 180,000 visitors having passed through the gates.
In comparison to last year, over 11,300 more people attended this year’s FATACIL, which ran between 17 and 26 August.
The best turnouts were for the nightly concerts by Fado singer Mariza (on Saturday 18 August) and reggae artist Richie Campbell (on Saturday 25 August), which both saw record crowds of over 25,000 people on each night.
Fatacil 2018 got off to a great start when Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, inaugurated the event.
Lagoa council said ticket revenue was also up this year on last year’s event, by an extra €25,000.
“The expansion of car parks, a better flow of tickets, with an average waiting time of no more than 12 minutes, and an increase in the sale of tickets online in the order of 60 percent (over 8,000 tickets) greatly facilitated access to the Fair and Exhibition Park”, the council reflected, and which all-in-all led Lagoa Mayor Francisco Martins to describe this year’s event as “the best Fatacil ever”.
Next year’s Fatacil, which will celebrate its landmark 40th anniversary, takes place from 16 to 25 August 2019.