Oktoberfest 2019: Revellers tried to steal almost 100,000 glasses, but beer sales fell

The Oktoberfest celebration in Munich came to an end on 6 October, and now, the organisers have crunched the numbers to see how things went.

Around 6.3 million million people attended the beer festival in Germany this year, but attendees drank just 7.3 million litres in the festival tents, 200,000 fewer than in 2018.

“It was a very nice Wiesn,” Oktoberfest boss Clemens Baumgärtner said. “Our motto was ‘loved and lived’, and that’s the best way to describe it. Whether it was sunny and warm or rainy and cool, it was a peaceful Wiesn with a relaxed audience that accepted our offers very well.”

Stewards confiscated 96,912 beer mugs (2018: 101,000) from souvenir hunters in the tents and at the exits of the festival grounds.

This is down slightly from the 101,000 that revellers tried to steal at last year’s beer festival. Guests used their beer mug as a weapon 32 times.

Instances of severe alcohol poisoning have also halved since 2018, despite the number of people visiting the medical tent rising. Press officer Ulrike Krivec said: “We recorded around 600 cases, 120 fewer than last year.”

Despite beer consumption falling, there were more brawls at Oktoberfest this year, with organisers recording eight more instances of “large-scale pugilism” than in 2018, while there was also a slight increase in sexual offences, from 42 to 45 offences.

Overall, police spokesman Marcus da Gloria Martins said there had been a “decrease in crime, but at the same time an increase in deployments. The decrease in the number of crimes is estimated at 914, with 6.3 million guests.

“We have had more controls and a significant decrease in pickpockets. 133 offences were recorded, compared with 174 in the previous year.”

The lost and found office counted around 3,800 finds by the end of the year, including 780 ID cards, 690 items of clothing, 660 purses, 465 bank cards, and 420 mobile phones.

Among the more unusual lost items this year were a set of false teeth, a UN card game, a measuring cup, a kitchen sieve, a wedding ring, a flugelhorn, and a copy of the book Dalí – the picturesque work.