Critics slate Floriade flop: Organizational chaos to blame, not Covid

One of the Floriade exhibits. Photo: DutchNews.nl

A group of critics and whistleblowers, in their final assessment of the event, said the 2022 Floriade gardening show in Almere should pay attention to bad planning, bad marketing and warning signs, not the aftermath of the coronavirus. It failed because of politicians who refused to do so.

The show was originally said to have actually cost about 100 million euros, but a group made up of people who helped prepare the show and organizers of the event claimed at Parole.

Expectations for visitor numbers were also very optimistic, with 685,000 passing through the gate instead of 2 million, with revenues of up to €36 million.

This report precedes the Council’s own figures, which will be released at the end of March.

The group’s spokesman, former Floriade organizer and amusement park founder Hans van Doriem, said the event organizers and the Almere local council were “playing a shell game at the cost”, citing Covid and I’m trying to condemn the negative press.

“It’s scandalous that politicians are blaming others and trying to use Covid to get additional subsidies from governments and states to make up for the shortfall,” he said. Parole.

The group said Covid is a “gift” to organizers who can blame themselves for their own failures in the pandemic. foreign and domestic visitor numbers were virtually back to pre-pandemic levels.

Failure

Van Driem wrote that “years of overconfidence, mismanagement of money, organizational chaos, missteps in marketing and design” were the real reason the event failed despite numerous warnings from critics along the way. I said that was the reason.

Successive Almere mayors and officials “deliberately hid the real numbers,” Van Driem argued. resignation about the problem.

Floriade organizers and inclusive horticultural organization Nederland Twinbowlard say the Floriade is still relevant, but Van Driem disagrees. But has been pushed aside by technology.People now have a lot to enjoy,” he told the newspaper.

“The Floriade needs to be stopped now to prevent the gullible council from taking over it in 2032. There are better things money can do, like youth care and building homes,” he said. I was.

The Almere Council did not wish to comment on the assessment prior to its own report on the final cost of the event.