More than a million people were at Edinburgh’s festive events

More than a million people attended Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay events last year, according to a new report.

Analysis found there were 929,219 individual visitors to the Christmas events while 183,857 people attended Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.

More than a quarter (27%) of people who went to the Hogmanay celebrations were international visitors, 10% were from parts of Scotland outside of Edinburgh and the Lothians, and four in 10 (40%) were from elsewhere in the UK.

For the Christmas events, more than a third (37%) were from the rest of Scotland outside Edinburgh and the Lothians, and 19% were from elsewhere in the UK.

Underbelly, which was awarded the contract to run both festivals two years ago, said it has saved the City of Edinburgh Council £2 million so far. The Underbelly report for the 2018-19 festivities said 771,074 tickets were sold for Christmas rides, attractions and shows while EH postcode holders claimed 186,799 of these using their 20% discount.

Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam, directors of Underbelly, said: “The Underbelly team continues to be incredibly proud and excited to deliver both Edinburgh’s Christmas and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and we look forward to continuing to work with the council and Scottish Government and other partners to deliver these world class and world renowned festivals.

“Edinburgh’s Christmas last year saw the biggest take-up of EH discounted tickets and most importantly the largest number of tickets given away to people in Edinburgh through local charities and community groups.”