Fringe chief says new ideas needed to tackle spiralling accommodation costs
The soaring cost of accommodation is one of the the biggest challenges facing the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, its chief executive has admitted.
Shona Mccarthy said the event needed to come up with new ideas of tackling the longstanding problem, including securing better transport infrastructure and encouraging more people to stay outwith the city centre.
Speaking at a debate on the future of the Fringe, Ms Mccarthy, who is at the helm of the event for a second year, said: “The single issue that has come up the most is the rising cost of accommodation and just how prohibitive it makes things, both for performers and audiences.
“Everybody expects to come to Edinburgh and stay in a hotel that is walking distance from the venue. In Belfast or Dublin people expect there to be some mode of transport to get then from where they are staying to the venue. In Edinburgh there is still a tendency to think you’ve got be in the dead centre of the city centre.
“I wonder if there is an opportunity for us to think differently about it, whether it is a question of the infrastructure to take people out and about, and whether we need to be looking at Glasgow, dare I say it.”
Judith Doherty, chief executive of Grid Iron Theatre, told the debate: “The thing that is becoming the big issue for the Fringe is the cost of accommodation.
“More worrying than the cost to performers is the cost to audiences. Hotel chains which are charging £60 or £70 in March are charging £260 at the moment.
“Eventhebed-and-breakfasts in Leith, where we have our office, go from £35 during the year up to £180 or £200 in August. If people can’t come to the city we don’t have our audience. If we don’t have an audience we are stuffed.”
Laura Mackenzie Stuart, headoftheatreatcreativescotland, said: “People see queues of people waving tickets that cost £20 and think everyone involved is raking it in.”