Operators are warning organisers of next year’s Oberammergau Passion Play they may have to rethink their business model as the event suffers from the trend for increasingly late sales.
The play, depicting the life and death of Jesus Christ, has been performed in the German village of Oberammergau every 10 years since the 17th century, following a pledge made by villagers who were spared from an outbreak of bubonic plague.
Next year’s season will run from May to October, with many of the village’s 5,000-strong population playing the parts.
Now, British tour operators are urging organisers to rethink their plans as the October deadline looms for operators to return unsold tickets. Sales in the core US market have been slow.
Dertour tours manager Lawrence Peachey said: “It is difficult to remember what sales were like at this stage 10 years ago, but there is a feeling they are slower now.
“People are booking later and it is something [the organisers] have never experienced before.”
Peachey added organisers should act now by increasing marketing spends, although he doesn’t expect a rash of late deals to become available.
Pax Travel managing director Phil Dean added price has proved to be a problem, and it may have slowed the North America market, which usually accounts for up to half of the 450,000 ticket sales.
He added: “It may be that the US operators have rushed in to take the most expensive options of hotels and the best seats, and are now having difficulty selling their allocations to customers.”
European Tour Operators Association executive director Tom Jenkins said: “My members are telling me their bookings are down and they are holding allocations they can’t shift, and will have to give them back before the October deadline.
“If this happens, it will be the first time that Oberammergau will have had returns. Normally, the entire season is sold out far in advance.”
A German National Tourist Office spokesman said sales have been slower than they were for the previous production, but it hopes they will pick up in the coming months.