Festivals earn over £200m for capital

The Fringe, the Tattoo, rugby internationals and the capital’s Hogmanay celebrations all combined to generate the income last year.

Experts at the city council used previous research conducted on behalf of the summer festivals combined with a string of new studies and predictions to come up with the 203 million total.

The research was the first time such a comprehensive study had been conducted. The figure, produced by the council’s economic development department, is thought to have outstripped previous years because of the unprecedented success of the summer festivals last year.

New additions such as the Easter Festival, held for the first time last year, and the one-off International Festival of the Sea, in May, are also both estimated to have delivered 4 million each for the local economy. However, the 203 million total is still thought to be a conservative estimate as it does not include the two sell-out Robbie Williams concerts at Murrayfield last June or the MTV Europe Music Awards in November, as an economic impact study into the latter is yet to be completed.

The council believes the two winter festivals generated around 45 million while the three Six Nations rugby matches at Murrayfield last year are thought to have made a total of 36 million. The film festival reported an 11 per cent increase in ticket sales from the previous year.

Fringe managers were celebrating after selling more than a million tickets for the first time, while the Tattoo was sold out in record time before the first show was even staged.

A spokeswoman for the city council said that, although not all of the figures used to produce the total of 203 million were based on separate economic impact studies, they were "fairly indicative".

She added: "These figures do not take account of other ‘ad hoc’ events taking place in the city. For example, last year we also had the MTV Europe Music Awards, the Royal Highland Show, the European Cross-Country Championships and the Robbie Williams concerts at Murrayfield.

"Not only do events and festivals contribute greatly to the city’s cultural life and international profile, they also provide a massive economic boost, bringing employment and business opportunities to Edinburgh."

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh and the Lothians Tourist Board said: "Edinburgh is famous for its high quality, year-round events programme and we know this reputation is one of the key reasons that visitors choose the city.

"These figures highlight just how significant Edinburgh’s festivals are to the local economy. But it isn’t only the visitors that benefit the city. Events and festivals also raise the profile of the area."

A spokesman for Visit Scotland said: "This research is certainly heartening and shows the value to be gained from staging such events."

Last year it emerged that Edinburgh’s tourism industry had generated more than 1 billion for the city in a single year for the first time.

A huge jump in the number of British visitors to the capital has helped push up the city’s income from tourists, day- trippers and "business tourists", or conference-goers, to record levels.

Residents from across the UK made more than 3.53 million trips to the city in 2002, compared with 3.1 million the previous year. They spent an average of 210 each in 2002, making a total income for the city of 754 million. This is an increase on the 660 million income for 2001.