We don’t need winter festivals to attract people to Edinburgh – Kevin Buckle

It would appear that Edinburgh Council is determined to have major festivities this winter, if maybe not on the scale of recent years. The main driving force appears to be the economic benefit this will bring and somehow the ‘saving’ of Edinburgh’s reputation as one of the leading festival cities in the world.

There really is no need to detail the obvious dangers in this plan and of course there is a chance that all may pass off well, but it is a gamble and not simply a monetary one but one that potentially gambles with people’s lives.

Make no mistake, the consequences of a quiet Christmas and New Year for businesses could be the final straw for many, but there doesn’t seem to have been any thought given to the idea that maybe a good number of folk might come to Edinburgh without the promise of big events that are both costly and encourage all the sort of behaviour best avoided.

Certainly talk of spreading events all over the city is a good one and one that should have been adopted before now, but this is hardly the time to start promoting new events in new areas. Luckily there is plenty to attract visitors that is in place already.

Any talks with Underbelly will involve them wanting to put on events and claiming economic benefit. What, though, if Edinburgh just relies on being the amazing city it is and this year forgoes the markets, rides and organised events and welcomes people to visit, emphasising that we don’t need a market with so many shops to visit and there are plenty of all-year-round attractions all over the city to fill everybody’s time without the need for artificial Christmas events?

Whatever other cities do, Edinburgh could market itself as not needing anything more than what it has to offer all year and a place people will be able to visit safely whatever the position come December.

There are those who already think Edinburgh tries too hard with its winter festivals, so maybe just for this one year the city shows it doesn’t need to try at all. There was already very good reason based purely on health and safety concerns to spread the crowds that the core of the city centre attracts, to all parts of Edinburgh, so if ever there was a time to push for this, it is now.

So much time and money is spent promoting Edinburgh as a city of festivals that it can certainly do no harm to channel all efforts, at least for now, into adopting a new strategy that shows Edinburgh will be a safe and pleasant city to visit this winter with enough to offer to keep any visitor busy for their entire stay.

Certainly this course of action is a gamble, but only one of how many visitors there will be. Does anybody really believe that the streets of Edinburgh will be deserted and the shops empty just because there is no Christmas market to visit?

Maybe there will be a healthy mix of locals and visitors on the streets and in the shops of Edinburgh, and the shops in particular will get the boost they need so much.