Festival payback

Brian Ferguson’ s article (Scotsman, 4 August) reports the support of the large Edinburgh Fringe venues for a ‘tourist tax’ on hotel visitors to fund promotion of the festivals.

But how would Edinburgh cope with even more visitors coming at the same time? Would that not raise accommodation prices even higher?

My concern is that nowa - days new work can be priced out of the Fringe by more commercial shows.

The unpalatable fact is that most Fringe theatre is heavily subsidised by actors and directors.

We aim to give the audience the best possible experience, but this should not be at the expense of the performers involved.

A mechanism needs to be found to support new work and the performers who made the Fringe what it now is.

Accommodation providers, venues and some performers make quite a bit of money from the Festivals – should they not be putting something back? ANDREW GORDON Co-producer, Best Of Productions, Bearsden, Glasgow