Don’t rock up at castle
Visitors to Edinburgh landmark facing higher prices if they fail to book ahead
‘It may deter some visitors’
THOUSANDS of visitors to Edinburgh Castle are set to face extra admission charges if they fail to book online.
In a bid to ease overcrowding, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) plans to introduce a £1.50 surcharge for those who simply turn up at the gates.
More than two million people visit the castle – Scotland’s busiest paid-for attraction – every year.
The new measures could see those who have booked ahead being allowed to jump the peaktime queues.
And HES is considering extending the scheme to two other sites – Urquhart Castle, Invernessshire, and Stirling Castle.
But yesterday a senior tourism industry figure cast doubt on the scheme. John Duncan, of the Scottish Tourist Guides Association, said: ‘It may deter some visitors but I suspect the main consequence of it will be that HES will make a bit more money.
‘I can understand why they are doing it because at places like Edinburgh Castle the numbers really are approaching the unmanageable state. I guess it is an attempt to control that.
‘But I am not sure this is the best way to do it. The issue is that you have too many people coming into the castle at very busy times.
‘If what they are proposing to do is charge more for those who just turn up at the ticket kiosk, I suspect that people who have already made their way up there aren’t going to be put off by paying an extra quid or two to get in.’
Mr Duncan, whose organisation represents around 500 professional guides, added: ‘I think they will have to manage it by having a patrol on the Esplanade saying, “at the moment there is no point in joining the queue because they are not letting people in”.’
The decision to introduce twotier pricing was taken at an HES board meeting in October.
Members heard that introducing ‘price flexibility’ at the castle would help to manage growing visitor numbers.
The price will rise by £1.50 to £18.50 for those who turn up on the day, while the online price will stay at £17. Admission prices for smaller sites were frozen for 201819. But the board asked for proposals on the introduction of ‘pricing flexibility at Stirling and Urquhart castles to be circulated for consideration’.
Last year, Edinburgh Castle welcomed nearly four times the visitor numbers of the next most popular castle – Stirling, which attracted 567,000 people, followed by Urquhart Castle at 488,000. During the peak season of July and August, daily visitor numbers averaged 9,800 at Edinburgh Castle, 3,200 at Stirling Castle and 3,100 at Urquhart Castle.
The problem has been compounded by influxes from cruise ships and coach parties arriving in peak hours of 11am to 2pm.
A spokesman for HES said: ‘If there are particularly busy days, visitors who have purchased their tickets in advance will be guaranteed entry to the castle, potentially ahead of walk-up visitors.
‘Our approach at Edinburgh Castle is to create a more planned visitor flow using online time slots for entry, which will help spread visits from the mid-morning bottleneck to quieter times.
‘We are not necessarily aiming to restrict numbers overall, but we hope [this] will help manage queues and visitor flow. Advanced time slots are only for arrival times. Visitors are welcome to stay as long as they wish.’