There’s no room at the inn next weekend, with all Canberra accommodation booked out and room rates spiking to $500-$700 a night as an expected 45,000 people descend on the capital for the Spilt Milk music festival.
All budget options, such as youth hostels, were snapped up quickly and according to Canberra and Region Visitor Centre, only a few motel rooms remain at exorbitant rates.
The home-grown festival has caused similar mayhem in Ballarat where 40,000 people are expected to attend this Saturday 6 December, with some attendees paying thousands of dollars for two nights of accommodation.
There’s simply not enough beds in the capital across motels, caravan parks and short-term rentals to accommodate festival goers. Campgrounds are probably your best bet.
This year’s festival is a significant homecoming as it marks a return to the birth place of Spilt Milk after a break last year. The festival was launched here in 2016 before expanding to Ballarat in 2019, Gold Coast in 2022 and Perth in 2023.
The organisers, Kicks Entertainment, have created a monster. The festival sells out within hours every single year of launching.
Considering many other music festivals are falling by the wayside (Splendour in the Grass and Groovin the Moo), Spilt Milk seems to be the exception to the rule.
The Canberra-born festival is normally held in November and December each year, although the 2020, 2021 and 2024 festivals did not go ahead, the former two due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia and the latter related to financial costs and fluctuating ticket sales.
Such is its success, the festival picked up a National Live Music Award in 2018, which recognises Australia’s diverse live industry, celebrating the success of the Australian live scene.
Crowd numbers at recent Spilt Milk have attracted tens of thousands of people. The 2023 Ballarat festival drew over 40,000 attendees, while the 2022 Canberra event had a crowd of about 45,000. National ticket sales were about 175,000 in 2023.
The Canberra economy is certainly not crying over Spilt Milk.
The sold-out Spilt Milk festival in Canberra will take over Exhibition Park in Canberra on Saturday 13 December.
