Edinburgh Winter Festivals deliver significant benefits to the City and Scotland

Unique Assembly have publish the report on Edinburgh's Winter Festivals 2024-25, ahead of releasing early-bird tickets for the Hogmanay Street Party and Torchlight Procession.

Article Source: Unique Assembly
Last Updated: 27 May 2025 11:44

EDINBURGH, UK – Tuesday 27 May 2025 – Ahead of releasing early-bird tickets for this year’s Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party and the ever popular Torchlight Procession on Friday at 10am, event organisers Unique Assembly today publish the report on Edinburgh's Winter Festivals 2024-25. Encompassing both Edinburgh's Christmas celebrations and Edinburgh's Hogmanay New Year festival, the report highlights the substantial positive impact these events have on both the city of Edinburgh and Scotland as a whole.

Early-bird tickets for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party and Torchlight Procession on sale Friday, 30 May at 10am.

Created and designed by Unique Assembly on behalf of The City of Edinburgh Council, the seven weeks of winter events and attractions not only brought festive cheer to residents and visitors to the city who came together to enjoy the capitals world famous celebrations, but also provided significant economic and community benefits which continue to impact positively year-round.

Visitors to the city centre enjoyed a feast of festive fun in the heart of the capital - discovering the traditional Christmas Market including the iconic Christmas Wheel and Around the World Starflyer, visiting the outdoor Ice Skating and new Ice Bar experience, enjoying family funfair rides and illumination trails, watching live music concerts, festive shows and community events, and of course that all-important visit from Santa himself.

Edinburgh’s Winter Festivals continues to support local communities with over 160 local community groups and charities engaged with through the Edinburgh's Christmas Schools & Communities Initiative, distributing more than 8,000 free community tickets and ride tokens to people across the city. In addition, being a platform for local talent and community events is an important part of Edinburgh’s Christmas, including the Winter Windows Schools Competition, which showcased artwork by pupils from 24 schools, displayed beneath the Castle in the beautiful setting of Princes Street Gardens. While many people want to join and enjoy the city centre festivities it is not that simple for some and therefore a new Silent Light Projection Show brought Christmas cheer and festive illumination to communities across the city. In 2024, working with the Council’s Education Team, the Winter festivals were able to bring that cheer to Granton Primary School, Stockbridge Primary School, Gilmerton Community Centre and the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People.

The report underscores the Winter Festivals' commitment to the local community through its charity partnerships. This year, Edinburgh's Winter Festival directly raised funds for local charities One City Trust and Simon Community Scotland, supporting crucial work in fighting inequality and homelessness within Edinburgh. Furthermore, the festivals continued their support, both financial and operational, for Social Bite's Festival of Kindness and When You Wish Upon a Star through the annual Santa Fun Run, confirming the commitment of both organisers and festivalgoers to giving back. The Concert in the Gardens also played a role in charitable giving, with donations from ticket buyers for supporting Children's Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS). Overall more than £15,000 was donated by visitors through both Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay events.

While audience and sales data for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay was impacted by the cancellation of the major outdoor events, pre-cancellation data confirms that Edinburgh’s Hogmanay continues to attract local audiences (33%) as well as visitors to the city (31% international and 36% from the rest of the UK). Edinburgh’s Christmas data shows that a similar mix of Edinburgh & Lothians residents (37%), visitors from Scotland (21%) and elsewhere in the UK (32%), while a good number of international visitors (10%) attended this winter.

Across a total attendance of over 2.8million to Edinburgh’s Christmas attractions, strong attendance from international visitors demonstrates the international appeal which not only boosts the local economy but also enhances Scotland's global tourism profile. In addition, 74% of market stall traders in the Christmas Markets were Scottish, supporting the local creative crafts, drinks, food and gifts industries both financially and through profile. While 76% of artists and creatives who took part in Edinburgh’s Winter festivals events were local.

In the annual audience survey over 70% of visitors from out with the city cited Edinburgh’s Christmas as the primary reason for travelling to Edinburgh, staying an average of 1.85 nights. Over 90% of respondents were satisfied to extremely satisfied with their experience with over 95% agreeing that Edinburgh’s Christmas is a valuable and iconic part of Edinburgh’s winter identity, bringing a festive spirit to the city. 90% also said they are more likely to return to Edinburgh during the festival season because of their experience. The average spend was £537 across eating out, attractions, retail and in bars and pubs.

An increasing number of local residents are taking up their special ticket offer at Edinburgh’s Christmas with 101,500 discounted EH postcode tickets sold this year.

Councillor Margaret Graham, Culture and Communities 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. I look forward to finding out more about this year’s plans, which look set to brighten the city in the winter months.”

Roddy Smith, CEO of 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 Festival 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. We are already looking forward to what’s in store for this year.”

Louise MacLean, Business Development Director, Signature Group, said: “The Winter Festivals in Edinburgh provide a vital boost for hospitality in December. The surge in footfall, driven by visitors seeking festive entertainment, food, and drink, brings a much-needed increase in sales to all our venues across Edinburgh but particularly George Street and the New Town. Since the eastward shift in footfall with the appeal of St James, the Winter programme is not just welcomed by us, it’s crucial to our Christmas trade which often sustains us through the hard month of January. We can plan for this due to knowing that Unique Assembly’s festivals will bring revellers to the city. From there, we must ensure these visitors become our guests.”

Despite the cancellation of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay outdoor events due to weather conditions over the four days, the festival still welcomed significant numbers to its many sold out indoor events with over 25,000 attending over the four days including The Night Afore Concert with Idlewild and the Bairns Revels and New Year Revels in Assembly Rooms, the ever popular Hogmanay Candlelit Concert in St Giles’ Cathedral, as well as a late addition with Hot Dub Time Machine playing a quickly arranged intimate Hogmanay gig in Assembly Hall. The new first of January club nights in Portobello Town Hall and Leith Arches closed this year’s festival on New Year’s night.

The popular free New Year’s Day First Footin’ Cultural Trail attracted an audience of over 15,000, including many family groups to 18 venues across the Old and New Towns, this year extending its footprint welcoming Portobello Town Hall and Leith Arches into the programme. First Footin & Sprogmanay presented 44 acts with 298 performers for the event programme, and as part of its participatory music event, Come Away In, renowned folk artist Karine Polwart welcomed 150 participants to join a community choir for uplifting performances on New Year’s Day at St. Giles’ Cathedral.

Sprogmanay welcomed a family audience of 5,500 to take part in lots of New Year arts, crafts and activities, including magic, dancing unicorns and giant I-puppets through a collaboration with National Museum of Scotland. Free family ceilidhs took place in Assembly Roxy and Portobello Town Hall offering a truly Scottish experience for families on New Year’s Day both in the city and beyond.

Despite the cancellation of outdoor events, a survey of attendees at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay saw 71% say they were satisfied to extremely satisfied with their festival experience, 93% agreed it is a valuable part of Edinburgh’s winter identity, 89% said the event made them feel proud to be part of Scotland’s celebrations and 90% would recommend Edinburgh’s Hogmanay to friends or family. Those who travelled to join the celebrations stayed an average of 2.25 nights spending £958 on their stay. 87.5% of visitors spent money on eating out, 79.5% in bars and pubs, 56% on attractions or tours, and 56% on retail.

The total economic impact of the Edinburgh’s Winter Festivals was calculated last year at £198M, combining the financial impact of both Edinburgh’s Christmas (£150M) and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay (£48M). This represents a return of £244 for every £1 invested by the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC funding contribution of £812,456 towards Edinburgh’s Hogmanay), whilst making a significant contribution to the year-round health and prosperity of the city.

Alan Thomson from Unique Assembly said: “We take a lot of heart from this report that even having lost our outdoor events at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 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 with you very soon.”

This report demonstrates that Edinburgh's Winter Festivals continue to be a vital asset to the city and Scotland, providing not only memorable experiences but also significant economic benefits and valuable support to local communities and charities.

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Edinburgh Winter Festivals deliver significant benefits to the City and Scotland

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