Extended festival?

Hotel industry leaders in Edinburgh have called for the city’s main festival season to be extended across the summer to help ease demand for rooms.

What the hotel industry really means is that Airbnb is taking their business, as reported in this title. Airbnb is worth £48 million to the Festival Fringe alone.

Samuelcoldstream

“Last week property experts warned a shortage of hotel rooms in August was fuelling the city’s controversial Airbnb market”. What is “controversial” about people starting a business and making some money?

Damian Thirsty

Nonsense. All this would do is keep higher rates for longer to increase hotel profits when there’s more availability. The festival should be spread beyond Edinburgh to ease the pressure on the city.

Canyonero I have downshifted to running a small B&B and I can tell you this is bullshit. The city is jammed for the entire summer – in fact I have 100% occupancy from April to October. This is only hotels trying to extend the period they can treble or quadruple their rates.

Dunnomuch Walking home through the city centre last night through the piles of litter and filth (not classy, really disgusting), past overflowing bins and drunks, I was wondering if the whole festival has become a bit of a monster now... out of control and a bit too overpowering for the city; especially for the locals that live here.

Iain Masterton Yes, I agree that the litter situation needs to be addressed, but we were in the city centre yesterday and the atmosphere was fantastic. Of course the introduction of a modest tourist tax could help to improve things markedly if the funds were ringfenced for specific purposes.

As for the “drunks”, this is surely a problem throughout the year not specific in the least to the festival month.

Esox Hunter a couple of nights is bonkers.

Eddie Van Coupon Um. Let’s see how Scotland survives Brexit first, otherwise there may not even be a flipping festival.

Carmen Jace

God NO!

Kathleen Ferguson smokes 20 per day at around £8 per 20 (£56 per week). I would imagine 20aday to be moderate rather than heavy. If £56 per week represented 4 per cent of his income then his weekly income would be £1,400 per week!

Miss Dee Meaner

Depends how badly hooked the smokers are. Some might buy fags before food. Or more likely buy the contraband ones smuggled in and known to be even more unhealthy than the regular ones.

Joan Simpson

Are cigarettes subsidised in Holyrood’s cafes and bars (thus upkeeping the “one rule for us, one for them” rule?)

Auld Reekie

I would hope that Holyrood sets an example by not offering any kind of tobacco, including ecigarettes, in either the cafes or bars but I am unable to confirm this with a general Google search.

Brian J

Cigarette prices in France are half the price in the UK. France used to have the highest smoking population in Europe. Government carrot and stick policies have halved the number of smokers in France, and last year just over one million gave up the weed. Only a small percentage revert.

The high rate of lung cancer made successive French governments act.

Samuelcoldstream And vaping is much worse than a cig. Rather have natural than smoking something that’s a few molecules off from antifreeze and produces more blownout smoke. My doctor told me to get ecigs when they first came out. They make me sick.

Mary Hendricks I wonder what they will do without the taxes from cigarettes. Tax us some more or rob the disabled. I’m an exsmoker of six years.

Fiona Withers