Clan gathering made £600,000 loss

Published on Thursday 15 October 2009 15:00

THE centrepiece of this year's Homecoming celebrations - the clan gathering - has made a £600,000 loss.

The event, held in Holyrood Park in September, attracted 47,000 visitors from 40 countries and is reported to have generated over 10 million for the Scottish economy.

Tickets for the event, organised to celebrate the 250th birthday of Robert Burns, failed to sell out leaving the event's organisers with a huge financial shortfall.

Edinburgh City Council and the Scottish government have agreed to a bail-out which could see the event repeated in the future.

The Scottish Government will foot half the bill with the remainder being picked up by the public/private partnership body set up to co-ordinate marketing activity in the city, Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance.

The event organisers today released the following statement:

"Unfortunately, due largely to events outwith our control including an unprecedented global financial crisis, our income streams were lower than we expected and we have been unable to satisfy all of our creditors."