The economic downturn has hit Scotland’s biggest music festival.
Sales of tickets for the popular T in the Park event have stalled, as hard-up revellers struggle to save.
Geoff Ellis, chief executive of DF Concerts which is behind the three-day extravaganza, said he was still confident it would sell out over the next few weeks.
During a meeting of Perth and Kinross Council’s licensing committee on Monday, he gave assurances that Balado would remain the home of the festival for as long as possible.
“It has been more challenging to sell tickets this year because of the economy, but we are confident we will sell out. We have been spending quite a bit on promotion,” he said.
“Despite the weather last year, we are on course for selling out again. We very much want to continue with T in the Park in Kinross.”
Headline acts this year include The View, Deacon Blue, Travis, Twin Atlantic, Emeli Sande and the Fratellis.
Despite the slower sales, DF Concerts have pledged their commitment to remaining at Balado.
The firm was given atwo-year extension of its public entertainment licence by Perth and Kinross Council at Monday’s meeting. This ensures the three-day event will take place at its current site until at least 2015.
Although Mr Ellis admitted that the festival had not yet sold out, he told members of the licencing committee that he was “confident” of attracting a capacity crowd of 85,000 people each day.
He revealed they had several new measures in place to ensure T in the Park remains attractive to revellers, including the permanent addition of Sunset Strip an entertainment area for campers and day ticket holders.
Also new for this year is a contingency plan to open the campsite early to avoid the build-up of traffic that has blighted the festival in previous years.
Mr Ellis said: “Sunset Strip will operate as the campsite entertainment and the changes we made last year will remain.If we have a build-up of queues, we can open up the campsite early. This isn’t a permanent plan, but just a contingency.”
He also told councillors that a lot of hard work had gone into promoting the 20th anniversary of T in the Park, as well as repairing significant damage caused by last year’s relentless rain.”
Balado has been the award-winning event’s home since 1997.