Last week, convicted fraudster Billy McFarland announced dates for the second edition of Fyre Festival, insisting that this time it will be “real”. Only the Mexican tourism board says it has “no knowledge of this event”, and that it “does not exist”.
For anyone who hasn’t seen Netflix’s FYRE documentary, the original Fyre Festival in 2017 fell apart spectacularly, with guests promised a luxury experience in the Bahamas arriving to find disaster relief tents, cheese slices on white bread, and their luggages tossed around a car park.
The second edition of the festival has now been announced for 30 May to 2 June at Isla Mujeres, a tropical island off Cancún, Mexico. Tickets went on sale this week, with prices ranging from $1,400 to $25,000, and premium packages being sold as high as $1.1 million.
The trouble is, Edgar Gasca, from the tourism directorate of Isla Mujeres, says his team has no knowledge of the event – which is supposed to happen in just under three months.
“We have no knowledge of this event, nor contact with any person or company about it,” he tells The Guardian. “For us, this is an event that does not exist.”
Per NME, Gasca confirms he has spoken to the minister for tourism in the state of Quintana Roo – where Isla Mujeres is located – as well as hotels listed as accommodation options for the festival, and no one from these bodies has been approached about the event.
Impression Isla Mujeres, one such hotel, was contacted by The Guardian, and claimed it had not received “any approach or enquiry with regards to the event”.
“The organisers didn’t even bother to approach the authorities,” says Gasca. “It’s very strange, because any manager knows that if you’re going to hold an event, let alone a massive event, you need municipal authorisation.
“I think they thought they would just announce it and see if it got traction, then ask for the permits halfway down the path,” Gasca added. “It’s a bit of a naive way to think.”
Elsewhere, no acts have yet been announced for the festival which, again, is set to take place in three months’ time. Billy McFarland says Fyre Festival, this time, is “real”, but it certainly looks to bear all the hallmarks of history repeating itself.
