On Saturday the chemist and popularizer Dario Bressanini published on his TikTok profile video in which he walked the streets of the Tuscan city of Lucca and pointed out that, compared to the same period in previous years, there were “a lot less people” around. the same he wrote on Threads by Panini Comics publisher Marco Lupoi. Bressanini and Lupoi were in town for the Lucca Comics & Games, one of the most popular and attends world trade fairs for fans of comics, board games, TV series and pop culture, which annually attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to a city of 89 thousand inhabitants.
The event has been held in the historic center since 2006: in addition to the visitors who have tickets and therefore have access to the pavilions, stands and events, thousands of people come to the city just to look at the cosplayers, ie many people dressed as characters from movies, comics and cartoons who live in the streets of Lucca during the fair. For this reason it is impossible to know how many people were in the city at the event, but for those who often visit Lucca Comics it was obvious that the city center was less crowded than the norm.
Last year 314 thousand tickets were sold for Lucca Comics, the year before that there were almost 320 thousand. According to official data shared by Lucca Crea, the company that organizes the event, this year 275 thousand tickets were sold, 39 thousand less than last year. The upper limit was 80 thousand tickets per day, but it was not reached even on the long weekend of November 1 and 2, when most visitors are usually gathered ( the fair opened on October 30th and continued until the 3rd).
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It seems to some extent that this decline in participants is due to the fact that going to Lucca Comics has become very expensive for those who live far away. For years, people living in the Lucca area (in the historic center but also in many nearby towns and cities, from Viareggio to Pisa) have taken advantage of the large number of visitors visit during this period so that their apartments are available at high prices, and also hotel facilities increase the price of the rooms. At the beginning of October the consumer association Altroconsumo he had calculated that means two nights in the city for Lucca Comics costs 800 euros on average compared to 175 for a typical weekend in October.
Other increases have been added to the price of accommodation: for Saturday 2 November, for example, the entrance ticket to the fair has been increased from 30.60 euros to 33, and the five-day cumulative ticket from 82 to 95, which is for three days from 65 to 76. The price of parking has also been increased, and the same goes for public transport: according to Altroconsumo, anyone who came from Turin or Genoa to Lucca by bus this year paid around 30 euros more more than those who traveled the same route last year. Enthusiasts also complained about the high cost on Reddit: “No one is forcing you to go to this fair but it bothers me to think that it is now an honor for those who have the opportunity special financial”, wrote one user.
At the same time, this decrease in presence had a positive effect: Bressanini emphasized how people moved “with ease”. In recent years, of course, there was much discussion because the town, also because of its urban form, was not structured to accommodate such a large number of people, creating inconvenience for the locals and the visitors themselves. Vincenzo Sarno, from the publishing house that specializes in comics Sergio Bonelli Editore, says that at least in their case the lower visitors have not had a negative impact on sales: for him, on on the other hand, «the experience has definitely improved compared to previous years. With fewer people it will be easier to move around, but it also means fewer long queues and reaching more stands than usual.”
For Sarno, however, the real difference in this year’s edition was made by the weather, which historically during the Lucca Comics weekend, between October and November, is almost always bad. This year, however, as in many other areas in Italy, it was a very sunny and mild weekend in Lucca as well. Selling books and paper works in general, he explained «if they get wet they lose their value, especially in the world of collecting. If I want to buy a volume with a big price but it’s raining outside, I prefer to avoid that for fear of damage. It also happened last year: between the heavy rain and the mud, in our opinion, not many collectors wanted to take the risk.”
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2024-11-04 16:52:00
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