The greatest show on earth is great for Edinburgh’s economy - Donald Anderson
Every August something extraordinary happens in Edinburgh. For a few glorious weeks, Edinburgh becomes the cultural capital of the world. It is, quite simply, the greatest show on Earth.
This amazing achievement traces back to post-war Europe and the city council wanting to create and foster cultural links across a damaged and wounded continent. The ‘festival’ was masterminded by Rudolf Bing who was looking for a site for a festival and found a willing partner in the city council.
Roll on nearly 80 years and Edinburgh’s summer festivals recorded nearly four million attendances in 2025, attracting audiences from more than 100 countries. The scale puts Edinburgh alongside global mega-events such as the Olympics and football World Cup – except we do it every single year.
And there is a mythology worth challenging: some people argue that the Festival is something imposed on Edinburgh for tourists while locals barricade themselves indoors until September. The evidence tells a very different story.
In 2025, Edinburgh residents accounted for nearly 40 per cent of festival audiences – around 1.5 million attendances. In other words, the biggest single audience for Edinburgh’s Festivals is Edinburgh itself.
Also, previous Edinburgh Peoples Survey research found that two-thirds of residents had attended a festival during the preceding two years. The latest research finds 79 per cent of local festival audiences believe the Festival makes Edinburgh a better place to live. Not just are a ‘good thing’ but makes the city a better place to live.
For a few weeks every year we can finish work, go into town and choose between some of the world’s finest theatre, comedy, music, dance, literature and visual art. You can see an international star one night and discover an unknown performer in a room above a pub the next.
One of the things I make sure I do every year is to just savour walking through the High Street and soaking up the atmosphere. Seeing people performing and advertising their shows is a genuinely life enriching experience as enjoyable as any show I’ve attended.
People are amazing, seeing them give their all for their art helps reaffirm your faith in humanity – and it’s great fun too!
It matters economically too. The latest independent study estimates that Edinburgh’s Festivals generated an extraordinary £852 million across Scotland, but the value of the festivals has been way more important than just that. The summer and winter ‘Festivals’ have been what Edinburgh’s year-round tourism success has been founded on.
Recent estimates put Edinburgh’s year-round hotel occupancy at around 85 per cent. That’s despite a huge uplift in hotel development. That matters because year-round tourism supports year-round jobs and better paid jobs. It’s helped Edinburgh become the most successful city economy in the UK after London and with the highest wages outside London too.
That means jobs in hotels, restaurants, bars, shops, theatres and venues; but also work for technicians, designers, producers, musicians, actors and countless small businesses.
Yet reducing our Festivals simply to pounds and pence misses their greatest contribution. They’ve made Edinburgh exciting and a better place to live.
For one month every year the world comes to Edinburgh – and millions join the party. We should never take that for granted. The greatest show on Earth happens on our doorstep and we should all be immensely proud of it.