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The popularity of the annual Museum Of Old and New Art's (MONA) gloriously gothic Dark Mofo showcase of the beautifully weird has created something that was unthinkable before it began in 2013 - a high demand to be in Hobart mid-winter.
But latecomers to the festival are having to pay up to three times the usual price for flights into Hobart.
While there are ticketed events, the city of Hobart is dotted with free art displays, light shows and even a twice-daily aural serenade. Add the key drawcard of the nightly Winter Feast, and Dark Mofo has single-handedly made a hotspot of Hobart's cold heart.
But there's no alternative to cold, hard cash or a credit card if you are acting on the spur of the moment.
Dark Mofo creative director Leigh Carmichael puts the higher cost of last-minute commitments down to a classic case of supply and demand.
"There's no doubt we could sell more tickets, and get more people here if there wasn't the price increase towards the end," he said.
"But it's understandable that when things get tight, that's what the market does, that's fair enough.
"We'd obviously like to see more rooms and cheaper prices so that we could get even more people down here for our party."
A search of flights to Hobart this weekend shows consumers will pay an average of $279 for a one-way flight from Melbourne, $839 from Sydney and up to $906 from Adelaide.
That's as much as three times the average price of airfares for the first weekend following the festival when prices are $89, $269 and $373 respectively.
Hobart Lord Mayor Sue Hickey hoped the high demand might prompt airlines to increase the number of flights into Hobart and bring prices down.
"I've got a friend staying for no fees just so they can come along and visit," she said.
"But it's the airfares that I think are the problem.
"One of my friends said it was $1,200 to fly in yesterday [from Sydney]. It will put pressure on the airlines to reconsider the amount of planes they bring into Hobart.
"But the more the merrier - they're all welcome."
The key to avoiding price hikes is the standard rule of getting in early. But how much are visitors paying for the Dark Mofo essentials - flights, accommodation and tickets?
Victoria Glenn and three friends booked in January, paying $110 each for their return flights. The group picked up an apartment in Salamanca for $200 each for their four-night stay.
"We've booked restaurants, we haven't booked tickets but we booked to got to MONA," she said.
Per person, Ms Glenn's group paid $310 each to take part in Dark Mofo.
Denise Devine from Geelong arrived with four Melbourne friends for the start of the festival, with each paying about $140 for their return flights.
They booked in March and secured accommodation through an online homestay site.
With tickets to three events, the group spent about $225 each on Dark Mofo performances. In all, their outlay per person was about $385.
Catherine Smith and Sam Stafford, also from Melbourne, spent about $650 each for their three-night stay - flights around $200, accommodation at $600, and tickets at $150.
"We're going to Buried Country tonight and Paul Kelly tomorrow night," Ms Smith said.
"[We're] very much looking forward to the feast."
The pair had been to Hobart before, but not Dark Mofo.
"It just looks like fun ... it's a bit crazy and a bit of a laugh and great," she said.
Mr Carmichael said 666 artists were engaged this year and the event was substantially bigger.
"We're about a million dollars ahead in terms of box office, which is a 110 per cent increase on last year," he said.
"It's quite staggering. I think we're reaching $2 million now, we've got over a 1,000 staff, 666 artists, 57 events and 27 venues.
"At the moment 52 per cent of all tickets are from interstate. We've sold 31,000 individual tickets.
"We've expecting about 12,000 bodies, up from around 8,000 last year."
Topics: events, travel-and-tourism, community-and-society, arts-and-entertainment, hobart-7000, tas
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