The news, which was announced this morning (17 September), means the previously free event on London’s South Bank will now be available to 100,000 ticketholders at a price of £10. People booking tickets, which go on sale next Friday (26 September) at 12pm, will be able to secure up to four tickets via a dedicated event website.
Johnson said: "London's New Year's Eve fireworks are phenomenally popular, not just in the capital, but across the world and we want to ensure it continues to be a safe, enjoyable and sustainable event for the long-term. After consulting with our partners, we are introducing ticketing to help manage crowd numbers and create a better experience on the night."
The decision to make the London NYE fireworks display a ticketed event comes following a consultation with the Metropolitan Police Service, the British Transport Police, the London Ambulance Service, the London Fire Brigade, Transport for London, local authorities and other key partners. Johnson said the situation with the event going over capacity had become untenable, with visitor numbers growing in size from an estimated 100,000 in its first year in 2003 to 400,000 two years ago.
A detailed scoping exercise was carried out to assess a range of options to help manage and ultimately reduce numbers, and it was decided ticketing was the best option available to organisers going forward.
The London Mayor explained ticketing the event was not a way to make profit, with the whole amount from each ticket being used to pay for the ticketing itself, and the extra infrastructure the decision to ticket will bring.
The event is being produced by event agency Jack Morton Worldwide.
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