Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010: Bigger, better and still the greatest show on earth

• Popular productions such as Brazil, Brazil have helped boost the Festival's coffers

Organisers of the 64th Festival last night revealed that overall sales had risen 5.2 per cent this year – to 1,955,913. The addition of several major new venues and a 17 per cent rise in the number of individual productions are thought to have been major factors behind the box office boom.

Some venues have seen sales rise by as much as 25 per cent, with several promoters reporting their best ever year, despite fears about the impact of the economic downturn and reports of a slump in sales in the final week of the Fringe.

This year's increase – by 96,678 – could not match the 9 per cent hike notched up by the Fringe last year on the previous record, set in 2007.

And with the number of individual performances rising from 34,265 to 40,254 this year, the average attendance at a Fringe show actually dropped from 54 to 48.5 in the space of 12 months. However more than a million extra Fringe tickets were sold this year compared to 2002.

And yesterday's box office figures do not count any of those who attended the record 558 free shows which were part of the official Fringe programme, as they are not counted by the venues. Some 662 buskers and street performers were also registered by the Fringe office.

Meanwhile, the Edinburgh International Book Festival last night revealed its ticket sales had dropped two per cent on last year, but pointed out they were broadly in line with the 2008 figure.

Kath Mainland, chief executive of the Fringe, said: "That every person who has performed as part of the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe over the last three weeks chose to be here is exactly why the Fringe is greatest show on earth.

"Edinburgh is without doubt the world's leading festival destination and audiences continued to be inspired and enthralled by the many and varied events on offer."

The Fringe has made a remarkable recovery from 2008 when ticket sales slumped by almost 10 per cent, with widespread problems with the Festival's box office system blamed for the first drop in sales for eight years.

There has been a huge increase in ticket sales since just 2007, when 1,697,293 briefs were sold.

Although the 259 venues offering performances in this year's Fringe was down six on the 2009 figure, major additions such as the McEwan Hall, which was part of the Underbelly programme, Assembly's new venue in Princes Street Gardens, and the Pleasance's expansion into the Ghillie Dhu nightspot in the West End are thought to have made a vital difference. The Australian-based Famous Spiegeltent also made a return to George Square Gardens after a year out.

Charlie Wood, director of Underbelly, said there had been a "huge" increase in sales this year, but refused to give a figure.

Critics claim the 1,000-seater McEwan Hall programme dominated the Fringe this year, with many shows going on sale months before the official programme was released. But some venues in the New Town have complained that they have struggled to pull crowds for some of their top shows due to the large growth of venues in the area around Edinburgh University's main campus.

However, Mr Wood said: "It's a great story for the Fringe as a whole. The fact is more than 95,000 extra Fringe tickets were sold this year, which is an excellent result. We were up in all our venues and we don't think the McEwan Hall has had an impact elsewhere. We sold every ticket for a lot of our shows.

"The growth of the venues around Bristo Square has been a great thing for the Fringe and the really important thing is they're been run by different people. However I do think it would be good to have more areas like this being created at the Fringe. I don't think we've reached capacity at all."

John Barrow, director of the Acoustic Music Centre, in Dalry, said: "Our figures are pretty similar to the Fringe, we were up 6 per cent ourselves, which is a great result considering the current economic climate."

A spokesman for Gilded Balloon, which celebrated its 25th year at the Fringe, said ticket sales were up 8 per cent on last year. He added: "The strength of this year's programme has captivated audiences.

The ethos behind what the venue is all about and the continual search for the newest, most talented and best entertainment from all over the world has well and truly paid off."

Tommy Sheppard, director of The Stand, said: "We were around 5.2 per cent down, but we had a reduced capacity this year and when you take that into account our sales were broadly in line with last year. If you massively increase the capacity it stands to reason that you are going to sell extra tickets."

Nick Barley, director of the Book Festival, said: "I am delighted with the level of ticket sales which demonstrates that despite the uncertainty in the economy, arts and culture continue to play a vital role in people's lives."