Credit Crunch Hits Edinburgh Hogmanay

Christmas and Hogmanay start earlier every year! You can get your Edinburgh Hogmanay tickets from Friday this week (October 3) - but there's been a wee change. The price of the tickets has doubled from £5 to £10 for 2008.

Opinions are split. Is this a cunning marketing ruse to make the event seem more desirable and mark it out from other similar events in Dundee, Stirling, Glasgow and Aberdeen?

Or do you think it's another way to top up the council's budget? For residents, there are 10,000 tickets at the previous price, so that might make the event more palatable.

One idea is that a fall in numbers of visitors for this festival has caused problems. The organisers and promoters may be saying that the event is strong but capping the number of tickets sold hides the reality.

Visitor numbers have been falling since 1997 and council bosses are under pressure to retain Edinburgh's reputation for being the place to celebrate new year. By making the event more select, organisers risk losing the appeal that a huge influx of people has for both businesses and other visitors. People come because they know it's popular.

What do you think - is Edinburgh trying to fix something that isn't broken? Or has Edinburgh's Hogmanay lost its edge?

• 29 Sep 2008
• Add new comment

Categories

• blog
• edinburgh events
• edinburgh music