{"id":566745,"date":"2026-03-27T01:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T01:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566745\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T01:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T01:11:14","slug":"big-red-bash-cancelled-for-2026-outback-tourism-facing-uncertain-season-as-fuel-prices-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566745\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Red Bash cancelled for 2026, outback tourism facing uncertain season as fuel prices bite"},"content":{"rendered":"

The country’s most remote music festival, the Big Red Bash, has been cancelled for 2026.<\/p>\n

The decision, announced this morning, comes after ticket holders made it clear that relocating the event due to flooding<\/a>, combined with rising fuel costs, would discourage them from attending.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The usual area where thousands of campers set up near the dune has been covered in water.\u00a0 (Supplied: Ben Fullagar)<\/p>\n

Each year, the Big Red Bash, normally set against the backdrop of the towering sand dune west of Birdsville, delivers around $20 million to outback communities.<\/p>\n

With 90 per cent of tickets already sold, festival founder Greg Donovan said a survey showed cancellation was the outcome the majority wanted.<\/p>\n

“While some people were happy to attend a relocated event, there was an equal number who would prefer not to and really see the Big Red Dune and being on the edge of the desert as the key reason why they want to attend,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We decided it wasn’t feasible to relocate the event, and it’s best to cancel for this year.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Greg Donovan started the Big Red Bash in 2013.\u00a0 (Australian Story Erin Semmler)<\/p>\n

He said that while it was evident fuel costs were influencing travel plans, it had no bearing on management’s decision.<\/p>\n

“It’s a broader issue for the whole outback, for the tourism industry; it’s definitely going to have some impacts if the situation continues,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s just the sheer disappointment. We had the break last year; we had a couple of years with a bit of rain before the event.<\/p>\n

“We would have had a sold-out event this year.”\"group<\/p>\n

The Big Red Bash is a bucket-list item for many people. (Supplied: Matt Williams\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Double the cost of fuel<\/p>\n

The price of diesel has cracked three dollars a litre in most western and south-west Queensland towns as conflict in the Middle East continues.<\/p>\n

David Aldrich from Corowa in New South Wales was planning on making a three-week trip with his wife and friends to attend the Big Red Bash.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

In years past, thousands of caravans lined up around the stage, beside the Big Red dune. (Supplied: Matt Williams)<\/p>\n

He said he had done the maths and even if the Bash went ahead, they could no longer afford to make the trip.<\/p>\n

“I was working with about $1,500 in fuel, and now it’s gone up to over $3,000,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I worked out on the mileage average in my car towing a caravan, and it’s just nuts; at $3 a litre, we can’t afford that.”<\/p>\n

Sixty-three-year-old Margaret Sutherland and her husband were planning to finish off a 12-month lap of Australia with the Bash, or what they refer to as “the over-50s schoolies.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Margaret Sutherland said they were lucky they started their trip last year, when fuel was cheaper.\u00a0 (Supplied: Margaret Sutherland\u00a0)<\/p>\n

She said it was something they had always wanted to do and tried to attend in 2022, but her husband works in the military and got deployed.<\/p>\n

This was to be the year they would tick the item off their bucket list.<\/p>\n

But mapping out returning home to Port Macquarie to offload some gear and then heading to Birdsville was no longer viable.<\/p>\n

“Based on today’s prices, we were looking at double the cost in fuel, maybe $3,000-plus,” Ms Sutherland said.<\/p>\n

“It’s too much, it’s just crazy.”Outback tourism season concerns<\/p>\n

Rising fuel prices and concerns about supply have already begun to impact tourism numbers ahead of Easter.<\/p>\n

In Longreach, Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame CEO Lloyd Mills said they have been fielding calls from people cancelling or postponing their trips.<\/p>\n

“Fifty per cent of people are cancelling,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When you look at petrol prices, the uncertainty of supply \u2026 I think it could be a real car crash this year,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There’s so much unknown right now, that’s the frustration, it’s a waiting game.”<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Lloyd Mills says there’s been a number of cancellations this month.\u00a0 (ABC Western Queensland: Damien Larkins)<\/p>\n

He said every outback business had to make tough decisions right now about spending.<\/p>\n

“We’re not going to be employing a lot of people because we just don’t know whether they’ll be needed,” he said.<\/p>\n

“How much do you spend now throwing into marketing and promotion \u2026 that’s coming off your bottom line if people don’t respond because prices get higher or supply gets tighter.”<\/p>\n

Greg Donovan said they were acutely aware of the economic blow the cancellation of the Big Red Bash would deliver to communities across outback Queensland.<\/p>\n

“We urge our patrons not to cancel travel plans and to head out to enjoy everything the beautiful outback offers \u2026 it’s going to be a spectacular season after all this rain,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The country’s most remote music festival, the Big Red Bash, has been cancelled for 2026. The decision, announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-566745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}