Edinburgh wants to use tourist tax to help pay for Hogmanay celebrations

Four day festival is said to be worth more than £48.5m for economy

Fireworks are traditionally launched from Edinburgh Castle at midnight during the Hogmanay celebrations in the city. Picture: Jane Barlow

City council chiefs have called for Edinburgh’s tourist tax to help bankroll its world-famous Hogmanay celebrations in future - as organisers said they expected key events to sell out in advance as the weather improves in the Scottish capital.

Council leader Cammy Day admitted the local authority would struggle to find more funding to help meet the rising costs of staging the celebrations without raising additional income from other sources.

He was speaking after the current organisers of the event - which is celebrating its 30th anniversary over the next few days - warned that its public funding had reached a crisis point because it had not increased in line with the rising cost of staging the festivities.

Jarvis Cocker's band Pulp will be headlining Edinburgh's Hogmanay 'Concert in the Gardens' this year. Picture: Chris Pizzello

Producers Unique Events and Assembly Festival say an additional half a million pounds in public funding is needed to secure the future of the event, which is estimated to generate more than £48.5 million in economic benefit from the current investment of around £1 million from the council and the Scottish Government.

The two firms, which are expected to join forces again to bid to run the festival from 2025-26, currently have a contract worth £810,000 from the city council, but have revealed they are having to invest a further £250,000 themselves to ensure this year’s programme is delivered.

The 30th anniversary programme includes the return of the torchlight procession curtainraiser, four days of events in the Assembly Rooms for the first time, and an expansion of the “First Footin’” culture trail, which will see 30 acts perform across the city on New Year's Day.

Cllr Day said the council was looking at new ways of supporting the city’s festivals in future due to cuts in the authority’s core funding from the Scottish Government.

He also suggested the government should be giving the council a “capital city supplement” to help pay for its major events and festivals in recognition of their international appeal and the number of visitors they bring to the country.

Cllr Day said: “It’s just impossible for us to put more funding into the festivals when we have just had a £10 million cut in our revenue funding from the government in its draft budget.

“As the lowest funded council in the country, with some of the world’s biggest festivals on our doorstep that we contribute to, the only way we can sustain them and invest more in them is through additional revenue raising powers. At the very least, that should be done through a visitor levy.

"We have argued that the tourism levy should fund tourism infrastructure and the promotion of the city. I would like to see some of that income reinvested into our festivals.

"I think the council makes a reasonable contribution to and a worthwhile investment in the Hogmanay festival at the moment given what it generates for the city and the jobs it creates.

“If the government properly funded Edinburgh with a capital city supplement to help pay for the special events that we have, that would certainly help."

Cllr Day admitted it would be difficult for events like the Hogmanay festival to expand across the city without additional funding being secured.

He added: "There is nowhere else in Scotland that has the same level of festivals and tourism that Edinburgh has because of these events.

"But our government funding has been consistently cut.“If the government is not willing to give us a capital city supplement and is going to keep eradicating our revenue funding the only measure left for us is a visitor levy.

"The legislation is quite clear that what we spend from the visitor levy has to benefit the people who are contributing. The festivals and wider tourism sector should benefit in some way.”Meanwhile Unique and Assembly have said they are expecting a late rush for tickets and have warned revellers not to leave it too late, particularly for the Concert in the Gardens, which will be headlined by Britpop giants Pulp.

They are also expecting the weather in Edinburgh to improve over the next few day, with dry but cold conditions predicted for Hogmanay itself.

The capacity of the street party, which was pegged at 30,000 and sold out in advance last year, has been increased by 10,000 to cater for expected demand this year, with the official arena expanding to include a silent disco zone on Market Street and tartan zone on Waverley Bridge, where the Hannah Fisher Band, the Kinnaris Quintet and Elephant Sessions will be performing.Assembly Festival managing director Dani Rae said: "We had fewer events last year because the festival had been on hiatus for a few years, but we would normally expect some tickets to still be on sale at this point.

“We still have a couple of thousand tickets available for the street party, but we are expecting them to go very quickly over the next couple of days.”

Unique Events director Penny Dougherty: “There are only a few tickets left for the Concert in the Gardens and we are seeing a late surge of people booking for the street party.

“That’s a mix between local people who have only decided to go since Christmas and some of the international audience who booked their flights and accommodation to come to Edinburgh months ago but didn't realise they needed tickets.”

New crowd control measures being introduced for this year will mean that ticket-holders for the Concert in the Gardens will not be able to attend the party on Princes Street, with separate entrances introduced.

Ms Dougherty said: “We used to let people go between the street party and the concert, but the majority of people chose to stay in the concert. The entry system we have now means that people must now choose one or the other.

“We have been providing a lot of information about this to ticketholders and will be sending out a reminder before the event.”