Coronavirus: Edinburgh festival cancellation is a real blow to city – leader coment

Cancelling the August 2020 festivals because of the coronavirus outbreak is the correct decision and could give organisers and critics alike a new perspective.

All Edinburgh festival events have been cancelled for 2020 including the military tattoo (Getty Images)

Every year in August, Edinburgh becomes the capital not just of Scotland, but the world, for all those who love theatre, comedy, and a vast array of artistic expression that can be breathtakingly original, wonderful, terrible and everything in between. For a nation known for its ‘cultural cringe’, it’s quite an achievement.

In scale, the Edinburgh Festival in all its forms is the second-largest event on the planet behind only the four-yearly Olympic Games with millions of ticket sales.

However, as expected, the International Festival, Fringe, Tattoo, art and book festivals have taken the “heartbreaking” decision that the show cannot go on with the country facing weeks and possibly months of social distancing and isolation in the fight against the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

It was the sensible thing to do. The restrictions are necessary and will save lives. The only question was when was the right time for the decision to be taken and that was a practical matter for the various organisers.

In recent years, the festivals, which bring in some £300 million for the city’s economy, have attracted criticism from those who felt they were becoming too big, causing too much disruption to the everyday lives of local people and fuelling what has become known as the ‘Disneyfication’ of Edinburgh.

And it would be a mistake to simply dismiss such complaints, given their growing volume. The absence of the August festivals this year perhaps provides an opportunity to think of ways to make them work better for everyone in the city when they return in 2021.

However, it should also be a reason for the critics to reflect. The coronavirus outbreak is already hitting the UK economy hard and the loss of hundreds of millions of pounds of Festival-related revenue means it will hit Edinburgh ever harder.

Pubs and restaurants are struggling to survive and the lack of the usual injection of cash as people flock to the city could be the final straw for some.

We are about to find out just how important the festivals are to the livelihoods of large numbers of people who may not be directly involved. But we are also about to experience a quiet August in Edinburgh.

Perhaps even some of the critics will find they miss the vibrancy, the fun, the mime acts.