Festivals ‘need extra £11.5m’ after slump in ticket sales

Organisers say the additional investment is needed to help Edinburgh raise its international profile and compete with rival events such as the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

The Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Creative Scotland and the city council are all being asked to plough in extra cash to the festivals, which are already believed to be worth some £261m to the economy.

New figures have revealed ticket sales for the Edinburgh International Festival dropped 7.3 per cent this year, while the book festival’s attendances were down 4.7 per cent.

The jazz festival’s ticket sales fell 4.5 per cent, while the film festival suffered a 22 per cent drop. Only the Fringe recorded a significant increase, of 2.5 per cent, while the Mela’s box office was up marginally.

The city council, which compiles the figures and puts about £3.25m a year into the festivals, said attendances at non-ticketed events, such as free street theatre performances on the Royal Mile, dropped by 16 per cent this year.

It blamed the drop in attendances at ticketed events on bad weather in August.

A separate report on efforts to boost the festivals over the next three years said the aim was to ensure Edinburgh was the “must-see” cultural destination around the world and to reinforce its position as “the world’s leading festival city”.

It is hoped extra visitors will be lured from overseas on the back of interest in next year’s London Olympics, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 and the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles the same year.

The council report says the festivals are banking on the Scottish Government to come up with about half of the extra £11.5m they say is needed to achieve their “ambitions”.

Creative Scotland, the government’s arts agency has pledged £500,000, while the council has ringfenced £650,000 over the next three years.

Alasdair Maclean, the council’s corporate director, said although events such as the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games provided a significant opportunity to promote Edinburgh, there was a potential risk that events elsewhere would attract some people who would otherwise head to the city.

“All of the funding partners are committed to focusing any available resources in delivering a strong and enhanced programme across the 2012-2014 period,” he said.

“The festivals have major ambitions for 2012-14. They intend to be innovative in their programming, achieve an enhanced international profile, and build strong international relationships for the broader benefit of the city, while ensuring Edinburgh is the ‘must see’ cultural destination to 2014 and beyond.”

In her report to the council, head of culture Lynne Halfpenny, pointed out there been a 1 per cent increase in ticket sales across all festivals this summer.

However, sales at the International Festival were down 10,700, while the book festival’s overall attendance fell by 9,488.

Although tickets for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo were still on sale when the event began its run, organisers insisted they had still notched up the 13th successive sell-out season.

Ms Halfpenny blamed the drop in sales on the weather, saying: “The heaviest rainfall for 20 years was recorded in August.”