Cardownie: ‘there is no place that can beat Edinburgh at Christmas.’

541,151 tickets were sold for shows and attractions at Edinburgh’s Christmas 2014/15 – a 40% rise since 2013/14

• Over 1 in 10 people in the EH postcode area took advantage of the EH postcode discount offer
• Nearly 1 in 5 tickets sold were sold with the EH postcode discount
• 3.6 million people visited the Edinburgh Christmas sites, increasing footfall by 37.6% on 2013
• Footfall during the Edinburgh’s Christmas period was UP in the City Centre by 5.1% and on Princes Street by 8.6%, smashing the UK national average which was expected to be down up to 1%

People from Edinburgh and nearby towns have enjoyed big savings as they helped Edinburgh’s Christmas to a massive, record-busting year, Underbelly announced today.

A total of 541,151 visitors bought tickets for the festival’s many shows and attractions – up by 40.17% on the previous year when 386,045 were sold.

And 97,500 of these tickets were sold to EH postcode holders at a 20% discount. This means that over 18% of tickets were sold at a discounted rate.

With an estimated Edinburgh Area postcode population of around 870,000 (made up of Edinburgh, the Lothians and a part of the Scottish Borders) that means a number equivalent to around 11% of the population in the postcode area took advantage of the discount offer.

And the success doesn’t end with the numbers of tickets sold – with more than 3.6 million people visiting the two major sites, Princes Street Gardens and St Andrew Square, during the run of the Christmas festival, an increase of 37.6% on the 2013 festival, which had a footfall of 2,629,416.

The positive impact on city centre businesses is reinforced by figures released by Essential Edinburgh, the company which runs the city centre Business Improvement District, which shows footfall figures up the Edinburgh Christmas period by 8.6% on last year for Princes Street, and by 15.6% at St Andrew Square.

In general, the city centre footfall figures were up by more than 5.1% on the previous year, compared with a UK average of -1% for the same period (UK national figures are yet to be released for the month, but based on weekly figures which have been released, the average UK footfall is expected to be down by up to 1%).

Councillor Steve Cardownie, Edinburgh’s Festivals and Events Champion, said: “Our winter festivals are the envy of the world and rightly so. This has been another record-breaking year, and the huge boost to footfall is good news for city centre businesses and the local economy. I think residents will agree that the programme was even bigger and better this year, and I’m pleased so many local people have benefitted from the discount we launched especially for EH postcode holders, these results just go to prove there is no place that can beat Edinburgh at Christmas.”

The City of Edinburgh Council funds Edinburgh’s Christmas and it is also supported by Essential Edinburgh and Marketing Edinburgh.