Fringe ticket sales fall 25pc compared to pre-pandemic

TICKET sales for the Edinburgh Fringe slumped by a quarter compared to prepandemic levels after train strikes impacted audiences already hit by high prices for accomodation in the city.

In 2019, the eight major producing venues at the festival sold 1,965,961 tickets. During its first full year back, this plummeted by 25 per cent to just 1,486,746. A spokesman for Edfest.com said the fall in sales was a “major threat for everyone involved in the festival”, and put the blame on train strikes, the cost of living and the effects of coronavirus.

“Chief among these however is the soaring cost of accommodation in Edinburgh in August - audiences and artists alike are being priced out of town, out of experiences,” the spokesman warned. “It is clear to anyone spending time in Edinburgh that there are fewer people in the city this year than in 2019.

“While there are other factors that have affected audience numbers this year, the cost of accommodation is a perennial problem across the board. Disruption with public transport, delays with artist visas, and high fuel costs are even more insurmountable when people and performers simply cannot afford to stay in the city.”

It is not unusual over the Fringe to see desperate pleas on community Facebook groups of people asking to use a spare room because other options are too expensive. Some hotels have reportedly doubled their prices for a single night during the festival.

Big names including Phoebe Wallerbridge, Friends star David Schwimmer, comedian Eddie Izzard, and Dame Emma Thompson have seen the Fringe advance their careers.

But Edfest.com, which is made up of the venues Assembly, Dance Base, Gilded Balloon, Just the Tonic, Pleasance, Summerhall, Underbelly and Zoo, said that while suitable housing is not just an August problem “it’s imperative that local and national government, landlords, the universities, Fringe venues and the Fringe Society all come together to find a lasting solution for this issue, or the future of the Fringe is in very real danger”.

“Long term we also have to find solutions that allow the festival to be affordable to performers and the audience,” a spokesman said.