Airport passenger numbers encounter a little turbulence

A total of 151,000 people passed through the airport over the Easter long weekend, down 1.3 per cent on last Easter. Today's figures also showed that the airport suffered a three per cent decline in passenger numbers in March.

Bad weather, strikes by British Airways staff and the early Easter are all thought to have contributed to the decline on March 2009.

Despite the airport figures, tourism leaders insist that Edinburgh still enjoyed a strong Easter. Nearly 7,000 people visited the visitor information centre on Princes Street over the Easter weekend and the traditional Easter Play in Princes Street Gardens drew in a huge crowd, while some Edinburgh International Science Festival events are said to be enjoying their best ever year.

Edinburgh Airport had seen 3.5 per cent growth year-on-year in February, before the three per cent decline in March.

Over the Easter weekend, around half of passengers were arriving in Edinburgh, while London, Amsterdam, Dublin, Birmingham and Paris were said to be the most popular destinations.

Gordon Dewar, managing director at Edinburgh Airport, said: "Although traffic has been down slightly this month, Edinburgh has still outperformed other airports, further underlining the continued appeal of the Capital."

VisitScotland said that it had seen strong numbers of people at its visitor information centre on Princes Street over the weekend and said the Easter break heralded the start of a busier spell for the city.

Sinead Feltoe, VisitScotland's regional director for Edinburgh and the Lothians, said: "The Easter break provided Edinburgh with the perfect kick-start for what promises to be a very exciting year for tourism in the city, including the hugely popular Magic Weekend at Murrayfield next month.

"The four-day Easter weekend saw 6,925 people dropping in to our Visitor Information Centre on Princes Street. The Edinburgh International Science Festival, which runs until 17 April, is fantastic for the city and last year welcomed 68,000 visitors."

She also said that she was confident that VisitScotland's 'Perfect Day' campaign, which offers discounted food, drink and transport deals across Scotland until the end of August, would help attract more visitors to the city in the coming months.

Cllr Tom Buchanan, the city's economic development leader, said: "Now that winter is over I'm very pleased to see the city is buzzing again. From my office at the City Chambers I can see that the High Street is thronged with people enjoying the better weather, visiting our shops and attractions and spending money in our bars and restaurants.

"The Easter weekend is always popular with families enjoying the city's great amenities, and I have heard by all accounts the Science Festival's event at the City Art Centre has proved to be even more successful than ever before."