Hogmanay events return as winter festival is valued at £198m

The Herald Scotland

26-05-2025

They have been given the green light to return as the producers of the winter festivals for the city revealed that an overall audience of 2.8 million was recorded across a seven-week season of official Christmas and new year events last winter.
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They have revealed they are exploring ways to 'weather-proof' this year's main Hogmanay events to avoid them falling victim to bad weather again.
However this may need extra funding for the four-day new year festival, which is mainly paid for via an Edinburgh City Council contract worth £812,456 a year, but is now said to generate £48m for the economy.
The torchlight procession, which was due to be staged on December 29, was called off shortly before thousands of revellers were due to set through the city due to the worsening wind conditions along the parade route.
Edinburgh's Hogmanay street party, open-air concert and midnight fireworks display fell victim to bad weather last year.
The other main outdoor events were called off the following day, including a 'Night Afore Disco Party' in Princes Street Gardens on December 30, and the 45,000-capacity street party and the flagship Hogmanay Concert in the Gardens, which was due to be headlined by Texas.
However a series of indoor events went ahead in indoor venues during the four-day festival, including the Assembly Rooms, the Assembly Hall, St Giles' Cathedral and the National Museum of Scotland.
A new report from Unique Events and Assembly, the two companies who have led the organising of the city's winter festivals since 2022, has revealed that a key factor in the cancellations were concerns over the safety of staff who were due to build infrastructure in the city centre, as well as the risk of temporary structure already built being damaged by the forecast high winds.
It reveals that although the weather forecast for Hogmanay itself did not pose a threat to the planned fireworks over midnight it was decided to pull the plug due to concerns over large crowds gathering to watch the display without any public safety measures being in place.
The report added: 'Despite the cancellation of all planned outdoor events due to extreme weather conditions both experienced and forecasted during the build periods and event dates, Edinburgh's Hogmanay indoor programme played to packed audiences with many ticketed events sold out and free to enter events full, welcoming an estimated audience of more than 26,000 over four days.'
A spokeswoman for the festivals said: "In light of last year's extreme weather conditions, we will continue to adapt and evolve the four-day events programme to maintain the city's reputation for having a premier new year celebration."
The new research found that almost a third of tickets were sold internationally for the Hogmanay festival, with a third of tickets sold in Scotland and 36 per cent sold elsewhere in the UK.
Visitors to the city over the Hogmanay period were said to have stayed for an average of two and a half days and spent an average of £958 each during their time in the city.
The Christmas festival drew 37 per cent of its audience from Edinburgh and the Lothians, 21 per cent from the rest of Scotland, 32 per cent from the rest of the UK and 10 per cent internationally.
The event, which ran from November 15-January 4, has been valued at £150 million for the economy. Around 70 per cent of visitors said the Christmas festival was their main reason for travelling to Edinburgh, with the average spend £537 across attractions, shops, restaurants and pubs.
Unique Events director Alan Thomson said: 'We take a lot of heart from this report that even having lost our outdoor Hogmanay events to weather, the winter festivals have still delivered not just wonderful and joyful opportunities for people to come together, but also huge benefits for the people of Edinburgh and for Scotland across traders, local families, communities and charities and our tourism businesses.
'We are working on our plans for this coming winter's celebrations and look forward to sharing those very soon.'
Margaret Graham, the city council's culture convener, said: "The findings of this report demonstrate that Edinburgh's world-famous winter festivals don't only draw a huge international crowd, boosting the economy and adding to the city's vibrant calendar of events, but, crucially, they deliver significant benefits to Edinburgh's local communities, businesses and charities.
'This is despite the cancellation of last year's outdoor events, showing just how far reaching the programme events is.'
Roddy Smith, chief executive of city centre business group Essential Edinburgh, said: 'Edinburgh's winter festivals are a crucial period for our city centre and again it is very pleasing to see our residents and visitors coming in such large numbers.
'With such a varied and appealing programme, combined with the high-quality hospitality and retail offering in the city centre, Edinburgh continues to be an attractive destination to enjoy the festive season.'