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

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

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.

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.”