New focus aims to boost Edinburgh tourism in '˜off season'

Edinburgh is set to embark on a major new drive to attract more tourists to come to the city between January and March, as part of a strategy to disperse the benefits of the industry throughout the year.

January is out of the winter and summer 'peaks' of Edinburgh tourism

Tourism bodies, event organisers and marketing chiefs are set to join forces to address a slump hotel occupancy rates during the “off season”, when Edinburgh is said to lag badly behind other UK cities.

New events are expected to be developed alongside a promotional campaign to help Edinburgh catch up with rival UK cities.

Robin Worsnop, chairman of the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group, said: “The focus is now very much on January-March. We have a lot of stuff going on then but we don’t really do enough to send a co-ordinated message out about it.”