The Oktoberfest usually attracts about 6 million visitors to Munich each year, with many foreign visitors. Here, people can get drunk at long tables, drink cold beers, eat sausages, pretzels or pork, and enjoy lively music.
Therefore, beer businesses as well as beer lovers are happy and excited about the news that the world's largest beer festival is about to reopen.
The 2022 Oktoberfest will take place from September 17 to October 3 at the Theresienwiese fairgrounds in Munich after two years of cancellation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cuisine at the Oktoberfest beer festival
At a press conference on April 29, Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said: "I have decided to ask the city government to allow Oktoberfest 2022 to take place without any restrictions. I would be happy if everyone is healthy again and has no regrets about coming to Oktoberfest."
Mayor Reiter also shared that this year's festival will not limit the number of attendees, the decision to reopen the festival was carefully considered and this "was not an easy decision" because the Covid-19 pandemic is not yet fully controlled. He affirmed that in the current context, canceling the 2022 Oktoberfest is impossible. Accordingly, each citizen will decide for themselves whether they want to participate in the festival or not and to what extent.
Bavarian State Prime Minister Markus Söder also affirmed that holding this traditional festival is a good sign, especially in the context that the festival had been canceled consecutively for the previous two years.
The beer festival is an important economic factor not only for the city of Munich, but for the entire state of Bavaria.
Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival, has been around for more than 200 years and this is its 187th year. Before the pandemic, the festival attracted millions of visitors from all over the world every year.
In 2020 and 2021, due to the requirements of Covid-19 pandemic prevention, the local government decided not to organize this festival. This was a big disappointment for beer lovers and made the political pressure to organize this year's beer festival very big, not only from politicians, beer producers but also from the local community.
According to a statement from the organizers, the beer festival is an important economic factor not only for the city of Munich, but for the entire state of Bavaria.
