Worries for tourism over slow Hogmanay ticket sales

Edinburgh may no longer be able to call its Hogmanay festivities “the world’s best New Year’s celebrations”, as thousands of tickets to this year’s street party remain unsold.

Whereas in previous years passes to the Princes Street party have sold out by the end of October, this year organisers are faced with the prospect of entering December with many tickets still to sell.

Demand is also down on previous years for the Concert in the Gardens, this year headlined by Kasabian and featuring Calvin Harris and local act Idlewild; tickets have previously been sold out by mid-November, but this year they were still available from Tickets Scotland on Rose Street and on the official Edinburgh Hogmanay website as The Journal went to press.

According to the website, the only licensed online retailer of Hogmanay tickets, availability of street party passes is still “good”.

Tourist industry representatives have said that following last year's cancellations due to dangerously bad weather on New Years Eve, coupled with complaints that prices for food, drink and amenities are artificially inflated within the ‘perimeter’ of the street party, revellers are staying away.

“It’s a bit of a nightmare. We’re normally booked out by May, but I’d say we’re about half-full at the moment,” said David Hinnrichs, head of the Edinburgh Hotel and Guest House Association, speaking to The Scotsman.

The glut of passes has encouraged touts to buy up large numbers of tickets in anticipation of a final rush once the events do sell out; some are already on sale online, with tickets worth £37.50 being offered on eBay for £120.

Some touts have attempted to mislead customers for an extra profit, with £5 passes which don’t give entry to the Princes Street Gardens concert being advertised as “Edinburgh Hogmanay 2 street party passes Kasabian live,” according to the Edinburgh Evening News.

Edinburgh City Councillor Steven Cardownie said: “It's not easy to regulate the unofficial sale of passes and tickets for something as popular as Edinburgh's Hogmanay but I would encourage people to secure their passes or tickets through official channels as, most importantly, you will pay the actual cost; not the inflated prices listed on some of these sites.”

However, when confronted on the issue of the event’s popularity, the councillor said: “I think we have a good format for the Hogmanay celebrations and we were right not to scale things back this year. I’m confident there will be plenty of demand come Hogmanay.”

Edinburgh has hosted its official Hogmanay celebrations on Princes Street and in Princes Street Gardens since 1993, when safety concerns saw festivities moved from around Hunter Square at the bottom of the Royal Mile.

Access to the event was restricted exclusively to ticket holders after a crush at the 1997 event left several hundred people in need of medical attention, as over 400,000 people descended on central Edinburgh.

Capacity was initially set at 180,000, but was capped at 100,000 in 1999 due to funding problems.

Since then, poor weather has forced two eleventh hour cancellations, in 2003 and last year.