Visitors
Around 4m visitors a year, a third from overseas, inject almost
£2 billion into Edinburgh City Region's economy annually and
account for 14m bed nights.
The city region accounts for one fifth of all expenditure by UK
and overseas tourists in Scotland. In 2010, Occupancy levels in
Edinburgh (77%) and average room rates, (£87.86)
were among the best in the UK and internationally.
Festivals
Edinburgh is the world's festival
capital, with 13 international festivals and a host of other
major events throughout the year. They include the Edinburgh
International Science Festival, International Film Festival,
International Book Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo,
Edinburgh's Hogmanay and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest
arts festival in the world. In 2010 5,486,354 people attended
Edinburgh's festivals.
Attractions
Half of Scotland's top visitor
attractions are in Edinburgh City Region. Edinburgh Castle is
consistently the most popular paid-for attraction, drawing more
than 1m visitors a year. The Scottish Parliament, National
Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh Zoo, and the Royal Botanic
Garden are also favourites, alongside city region attractions such
as Stirling Castle, the Falkirk Wheel and East Lothian's
Museum of Flight.
Business tourism
Edinburgh is the UK's most favoured city outside London for
holding international conferences. Business
tourism generates around £300m a year for the city region.
Corporate bookings represent more than a fifth of demand across the
city region compared to 14% in Scotland as a whole. Business
tourism continues to be a growing market – especially for the
medical, life science and technology sectors.
At a time when cost is a key factor, Edinburgh was placed first
in a recent value-for-money study of world-ranked international
conference destination cities, commissioned by VisitBritain,
further reinforcing the city's reputation and helping provide an
important edge in a very competitive market place.
Investment
Major investment in Edinburgh's cultural infrastructure is
enhancing the city's international reputation as a tourism capital.
Projects include the £46m expansion of the National Museums of
Scotland, the £18m refurbishment of the National Portrait Gallery,
the £30m redevelopment of the Usher Hall and the £12m redevelopment
of the Assembly Rooms. The National Galleries of Scotland were also
recently renovated and extended in a flagship £30m project.
