Edinburgh tourism: International survey ranks Edinburgh first for price increases on tourist activities

Edinburgh has emerged top of an international table for tourist price increases, with average hikes of nearly 50 per cent in the past four years.

A survey of 66 cities in 27 countries found the cost of tourist attractions in the Capital had risen more than anywhere else between June 2019 and June 2023. Prices in Edinburgh went up by 47 per cent, compared with an average worldwide of 18 per cent, according to the survey. Other popular tourist destinations which saw big price increases included Belfast (36 per cent), Istanbul (35 per cent), Ibiza (34 per cent) and Seville (33 per cent). Prices in London increased by an average of 24.3 per cent.

The survey was conducted by the company TicketLens, using its meta-search engine for tickets, tours, and activities, to compare prices for attractions over the past four years and show how prices have risen. It cited prices at the Edinburgh Dungeon, which it said had increased from an average of £12.57, taking into account different ticket types and offers, to £20.08, an increase of nearly 60 per cent. Other attractions highlighted included the Real Mary King’s Close, up from £16.18 to £24.49, an increase of 51 per cent, and Edinburgh Zoo, up from £15.98 to £22.04, a jump of 38 per cent.

The survey took into account not only admission charges to attractions, but also trips and tours from Edinburgh, such as a three-day tour of Skye and the Highlands which had gone up from £210.85 to £979.04, an increase of 364 per cent. TicketLens calculated an average Edinburgh figure for all tourist activities of £116.90, up from £79.50 in 2019, an increase of 47 per cent.

However, the survey also found Edinburgh’s hop-on, hop-off bus tours were the cheapest of all the cities studied. According to its calculations, the average cost of a bus tour in the Capital had actually fallen by 1p to £15.68 while the price of a similar tour in Belfast had tripled in price.

At country level, the survey found Turkey had seen the biggest price increases at an average of 35.2 per cent, with Ireland in second place at 31.7 per cent and the UK third at 29.4 per cent, followed by Poland (29 per cent) and Hungary (26 per cent).

The five countries with the lowest price increases for tourist attractions were South Africa (4.2 per cent), Iceland (5.8 per cent), Thailand (6.8 per cent), Malta (9.8 per cent) and Japan (13.3 per cent).

But Gordon Morrison, chief executive of the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions, said they had conducted their own survey in March and found that although 50 per cent said they were putting prices up this year, only one in ten were increasing them by the level of inflation or more, and another 34 per cent said they were unable or unwilling to put up their prices at all.

He said: "Our survey was to understand how the sector was responding to the cost of living crisis, the issue of recruitment and retention of staff and all the pressures. But the sector is not passing the costs of doing business onto the visitor to any great level. What’s happening is they are seeking new way to increase income – perhaps offering a premium tour alongside a standard tour.”

Another option he said attractions were beginning to explore was variable or “dynamic” pricing which meant different charges at different times of the year, different days of the week or even different times of day.

Mr Morrison said Covid had not had a big effect on the prices at tourist attractions. “Ours is a sector that is very price sensitive – it’s very much linked to what the consumer can afford. And for the majority of attractions the audience is domestic rather than international – between 70 and 80 per cent of visitors to attractions in Scotland come from the UK – so when there is a cost of living crisis, as there is now, the sector is very sensitive to that and we don’t see dramatic increases in prices. We rely on people coming through our doors and if we’re overcharging they’re not going to come back.”