The [1] FIB Heineken organisation, along with the mayor of the new municipal council of the city, Francesc Colomer, appeared at the wrap-up press conference of the thirteenth annual Festival, which ends today.

In first place, Colomer congratulated the Festival organisers for “internationalising” Benicàssim with its outstanding contributions of music and other cultural disciplines ([2] FIB Short Film Festival, [3] Mustang Fashion Weekend, [4] FIB-Art’07, [5] FIB-Act, [6] Date with Dance, and its programme of [7] Summer Courses). Additionally, he expressed his gratitude to the Festival’s attendees for their civic-minded behaviour, and the State security forces and local police for their significant contributions.For their part, the directors of the local police, José Luis and Miguel Morán, confirmed that this year’s Festival broke a new attendance record, with more than 150,000 people in four days, 47% of whom acquired their tickets in other countries, which verifies the international and multicultural character of the event. Likewise, they pointed out the Festival’s economic impact on the city, which is estimated to be over fourteen million euros.

Furthermore, they highlighted the infrastructure improvements due to the optimisation of space and the expansion of the venue of more than 15,000 square meters, allowing the audience to enjoy the event in greater comfort. Four days covered by a thousand accredited journalists (800 national and 200 international) during which over a hundred concerts were put on as well as more than a hundred extra-musical performances. Once again, the Festival enjoyed the collaboration of MUSAC (Castilla y León Museum of Contemporary Art), both in the projection of video-creations on the screens of the venue and in the preparation of the project known as “Benicàssim: The Festival” – a book of photographs and a future exposition created by six internationally renowned photographers.

On a final note, they expressed their thanks for the support of various organisations and institutions as well as the police force, the work of the Maraworld team, the quality of production provided by Sold Out, the support of sponsors and the good work of the [8] FIBER team in getting the Festival newspaper out each day of the event.