Festivals worth £135m to Scotland

Edinburgh’s summer festivals are worth £135 million to the Scottish economy, a new report has revealed.

The festivals, including the Fringe, the Tattoo and the international festival, support 2,900 full-time jobs, the year-long study has concluded.

Between them, the festivals attracted around 2.6 million visitors last year – about the same number who went to the 2002 football World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

The Fringe is the biggest event, generating £70million for Scotland – but it receives just £700,000 of public money.

Festival organisers say the figures show that more money should be ploughed into the events.

The Edinburgh International Festival receives £2.5 million, which director Sir Brian McMaster said was a tenth what a similar event in Salzburg receives.

And Fringe director Paul Gudgin told The Scotsman: "We could do a great deal more if we had more [funding].

“Such cities as Manchester and Liverpool are receiving substantial sums to put on arts festivals, so the challenge for Edinburgh is to maintain its pre-eminent position."

Published: 22 Jan 2005