Chamber summit highlights the achievements of arts, culture and tourism across our city - Donald Anderson

The Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce has long played an important part in the life and lifeblood of the city and yesterday it held a summit as part of its “Developing Edinburgh” programme on the importance of arts, culture and tourism.

The festival fringe, above, is among the events and attractions in a sector which has become the bedrock of the city’s modern success, says Donald Anderson

A series of heavy hitting speakers from the Festival Fringe, Tattoo, Royal Highland Show, National Gallery and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre highlighted both the successes and challenges facing a sector that has become the bedrock of the city’s modern success.

Buster Howes of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo posed a question that is often raised, and asked where we can see the physical benefit for the city of decades of excellence in delivering some of the best of world class art and culture. It is a critical point and one that should be answered, especially for city residents who see their streets filled with visitors and who can sometimes feel frustrated at the crowds that our summer festivals regularly attract.

The answer was given by one of the other presenters, Julia Amour, who is the Director of the Festival Fringe. Julia highlighted the recent council publication Edinburgh by Numbers, which set out how Edinburgh residents live longer, wealthier and happier lives than people living in other UK cities.

Donald Anderson

It is also a fact that all the important historical buildings in both the key city centre World Heritage sites have been saved. The list of buildings at risk in Edinburgh is a long one, but all the ones in the city centre are either refurbished or, like the Old Royal High School, have plans agreed to upgrade them.

It is a truly remarkable achievement but it is worth pointing out that not everyone shares in Edinburgh’s success as much as they should. The war to tackle poverty and deprivation are far from over. But too often in Edinburgh and in general we just focus on negative issues. It is as if the soundtrack of the city were written by The Smiths. That often means that we do not see the successes all around us.

The group of individuals the Chamber brought together are all heroes in their own way. They are leading in their fields, and they’ve generated hundreds of millions of pounds in investment and help support tens of thousands of Edinburgh jobs. So, is the job done? Can we put our feet up and just carry on regardless? Well no. Firstly, success is not a given and the famous “Thundering Hooves” study highlighted the many threats to Edinburgh’s success as a festival city. Those threats are real, and we can never be complacent. Also, we need to continue the drive to increase the prosperity of all city residents.

So, to answer the important question posed by Buster Howes, if you want to see the monument created by our festivals and events just look around you. It is on every street where having more people in work means that people are spending money on better local shops and services and it is in the faces of the people you see every day who live those longer, happier, and wealthier lives.

And yes, there are problems and challenges, but the problems of success are always easier to deal with than the problems of failure.