Why tourists are vital to Edinburgh's Covid recovery – Donald Anderson

I want the tourists back in the city, and I think tourism is one of the very best things for Edinburgh.
Tourism has brought jobs and prosperity to Edinburgh, says Donald Anderson (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)Tourism has brought jobs and prosperity to Edinburgh, says Donald Anderson (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)
Tourism has brought jobs and prosperity to Edinburgh, says Donald Anderson (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Firstly, let me share a secret. City authorities don’t just care about the interests of tourists. As someone who has been involved in the development of the tourism industry for more than 30 years, I can reveal that’s just a myth.

In my past life as a councillor, we worked hard to create a year-round tourism industry in a city that didn’t have a year-round climate.

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Even with the famous Festival and Hogmanay celebrations, tourism provided lots of seasonal, but relatively fewer year-round and well-paid jobs. That changed in the mid-2000s, as year-round tourism began to thrive, and as the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and the city’s Winter Festivals matured.

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That year-round tourism success was created not because the council or tourist board wanted to be nice to tourists, but to make life better for all Edinburgh residents. So, what are those benefits?

Firstly, year-round tourism brings year-round jobs. Edinburgh is one of the best and easiest cities in Britain to get a job. When I stepped down as a councillor (a long time ago), there were three job vacancies for every jobseeker in the city. I don’t know what the figures are now, but Edinburgh has continued to have some of the lowest unemployment levels in Europe – thanks to tourism.

Second, tourism supports better facilities for residents. We have some of the best restaurants in the land. We have more restaurants per head of population than any city in the UK. We have a range of theatres, cafes, museums, pubs and clubs because in large measure they’re supported by tourists as well as residents.

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Thirdly, it is great for heritage. Despite understandable concerns about development issues, buildings in Edinburgh’s city centre have never been in better shape. There are vanishingly few historic buildings in the city centre left on the official ‘at risk’ register.

Tourism is regenerating buildings like the former Fraser’s at the West End, the old Bank of Scotland building in St Andrew Square and too many others to list. Without tourism, the city centre would feature an array of empty and decaying buildings as has happened in the past.

It’s heart-breaking to see so many boarded up businesses in the city centre. What we can’t see as easily is the misery of unemployment visited on the people who worked in them.

So, for those Edinburgh residents who need work, for those families who want to work and earn the wages to enjoy the many wonders of one of the very finest cities on the planet, I do hope we get the tourists back as soon as it’s safe.

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That doesn’t mean we want unlimited Airbnbs, which bring real misery to some residents, or that there aren’t challenges to face in managing tourism.

But it does mean we should want to see the strong return of an industry that has helped create a city in which an amazing 95 per cent of people are satisfied with as a place to live. So, if you want to empty shops filled, restaurants open again, the city centre to recover and people to get their jobs back, remember it is tourism that can make that happen.

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