New Festivals ticket website flops before it's even launched

The 700,000 flagship project, which has been more than six years in development, was due to be up and running before the end of the year after a planned launch for the 2010 Fringe was halted at the eleventh hour.

But problems with a software supplier have led to the project - which is mainly bankrolled by the city council - being put on hold for the foreseeable future.

The move is a major blow for the capital's arts organisations, who were all expected to sell tickets through the new "portal", which had been billed as the first of its kind in Europe.

The Amazon-style site was meant to allow festivals and venues to cross-sell to each other, run joint packages and create special itineraries for ticket buyers.

Its backers, who included Festivals Edinburgh, the umbrella body for the city's major events, had hoped to build up profiles of ticket buyers and sell joint packages. There is no single box office for Edinburgh's main events and Festivals Edinburgh is unable to sell tickets through its own website.

Although the site, called Clicket, had been promoted at the launch of the 2010 Fringe, it was delayed in August amid fears the computer system it used had not been tested properly.

The parent company of Ticketswitch, which was to handle bookings for the new system, went into administration later in the summer. Ticketswitch has since been undergoing a management shake-up.

However, the Clicket website is already being promoted by some arts venues in the capital. A holding page - which describes the project as "coming soon" - lauds the venture as "an events and ticketing website with a very exciting difference - the ability to purchase tickets for multiple Edinburgh events across multiple venues in one go".

Crisis talks have been held over the last few weeks between representatives of the council, Festivals Edinburgh and The Audience Business, a development agency which has been in charge of the project.

One venue manager, who asked not to be named, told The Scotsman: "Confidence in the project going ahead is not great at the moment. There is a very complex system behind this project which will have to be rigorously tested before any organisations or venues sign up for it.

"That's a long way off at the moment and it's difficult to see how it will be all systems go for the festivals next summer."

Kate Park, project manager for Clicket at The Audience Business (TAB), said: "Our supplier, Ticketswitch, is going through a change in management, requiring us to renegotiate our contract. We hope that a revised timetable for the launch will be available soon."No fees have been paid to Ticketswitch to date, but they will earn commission on future ticket sales. The impact on the project is therefore a time delay. We are monitoring the situation closely."

Ros Lamont, chief executive of TAB, added that she was "very confident" the project would be up and running during the first half of next year.

A spokeswoman for the council said: "We continue to work closely with The Audience Business and will await the outcome of the ongoing discussions."

Festivals Edinburgh declined to comment yesterday.

DREAM TICKETS

THE concept is simple enough: a website where you can make a single booking for tickets for every show, at any venue, in Scotland's capital city, writes Brian Ferguson.

The reality, as ticket-buyers for shows in the city know only too well, is rather more complex.

Different transactions are required - whether booking on-line or in person - for venues like the Traverse, Royal Lyceum and Playhouse theatres. Even venues run by the city council - such as the Usher Hall and the King's Theatre - work off different box office systems.

When the world's biggest arts festival kicks off in Edinburgh every summer, the problems are magnified. Most of the major festivals have different box office systems. Anyone turning up at the Fringe office will face a trek up the Royal Mile if they also want to buy a ticket for the Edinburgh International Festival.

The council has been trying to crack this particular nut for over six years, with little success.

Although there are several websites which sell allocations of tickets for venues and events, the Edinburgh concept was more tricky. If a ticket was available for an event, you would be able to buy it through the new "portal".

But after years of research and development work, the project appears some way from becoming reality.