Highland Military Tattoo is forced to beat hasty retreat

● ‘Not enough bums on seats’ as campaign fails

It was the bravest of efforts. A four-year campaign to win hearts, minds and crucially, bums on seats.

But in the end the Highland Military Tattoo has been forced to beat a retreat after racking up repeated losses.

Organisers said attendances had failed to reach targets and the “risky financial situation” made it unsustainable.

The annual event at the spectacular 18th century Fort George fortress, near Ardersier, east of Inverness, was launched to support the armed forces and their charities.

But the mix of traditional and more contemporary acts, including massed pipes and drums, Highland dancing, competitions, vignettes, flypasts and a spectacular fireworks display, failed to draw big enough crowds.

Eventdirectormajorgeneral Seymour Monro said: “We’ve done four years and we’ve lost, and it’s on our shoulders. And we can’t go on.”

The tattoo board said despite tremendous praise for this year’s Fort George festivities, its members were unanimous in concluding that “another year of low attendance rates, the likelihood of increased costs for Ministry of Defence (MOD) support and the tattoo’s risky financial situation make it unsustainable.”

The event attracted 6,174 visitors this year, which was 843 more than last year but well short of the 8,000 target.

Major General Monro said: “I don’t think we can market it better than we have. We had the best publicity and marketing we could buy last year. It reached something like 7.5 million people.

“Six thousand is probably what we’re going to get and that’s not enough to pay for a tattoo. We’d have to raise as much from sponsorship as we would get from ticket sales.

“We’re all very frustrated because it was a great show. We just haven’t managed to get enough bums on seats.”

He declined to reveal the extent of losses but confirmed it was more in 2017 than in each of the previous three years, despite public grants and business donations.

Inverness Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stewart Nicol said: “I’ve been to each tattoo, this is a real blow.

“It’s really frustrating that it hasn’t worked. Seymour and his team could not have done more to make a success of it.”

An MOD spokesman said: “All three armed services have proudly supported the Highland Military Tattoo for several years. Had the organisers not decided to cancel we would have continued to do.”