What benefits?

A few years ago I got into a conversation in an Edinburgh bar with a man who told me he was up from London to “buy up spaces for next year’s Festival”. This, of course, made me wonder about how much of the massive revenues generated by the festivals actually remains in Edinburgh.

It is a fundamental principle of supply and demand economics that wherever huge

amounts of people gather, profit-making companies will descend like wasps around a honey pot. So with Edinburgh declared the fourth busiest tourist city in the world, this situation is just going to become worse. As a native of Edinburgh I love the Festival and that people from all over the world flock here every year but, sadly, for some it is

becoming just an opportunity to make vast profits. What once was an arts festival where up and coming talent could be showcased, thanks to the Underbelly and similar companies it’s now about bringing in established names, booking the largest venues and issuing ticket prices to match. At Christmas it is about cramming as many stalls into a tiny

space as possible, with all the tat that represents the season and making Princes Street a no-go zone for locals.

Ed Bartlam, the director of Underbelly (your report, 1 January) claims he’s doing it for the good of the city. Oh really? Well, show us just how much of your profits are actually being ploughed back into the local economy after you have completed your good works.

D MITCHELL Coates Place, Edinburgh