Global industry experts warn of ‘totally stupid’ plans to cut Marketing Edinburgh funding

Experts gathering in the city for a major industry summit this week say it would be “incredibly short-sighted” to strip Marketing Edinburgh of nearly 90 per cent of its funding at a time of huge uncertainty over the impact of Brexit.

Its chief executive has admitted that the threatened cuts have been put forward at the worst possible time.

The president of the European Cities Marketing alliance warned Edinburgh would get a major wake-up call if it went ahead with the plans, which the council is due to make a final decision on later this month.

Dieter Hardt-Stremayr, who is President of ECM, will attend the European Cities Marketing Spring Conference

Dieter Hardt-Stremayr warned the reputation of its tourism industry built up over several decades could be swiftly undone by the move, which is being opposed by event organisers, visitor attractions, marketing experts and academics. Another international marketing body, the BestCities Global Alliance, of which Edinburgh was a founding partner 19 years ago, has warned the proposed cuts would have “serious and extensive repercussions”.

Marketing Edinburgh chief executive John Donnelly is trying to persuade the city council to rethink its proposed cut of £790,000, which would be spread across the next two years. He has warned the move would lead to the demise of Marketing Edinburgh and leave the city “vulnerable” to econonomic decline by putting “critical pipelines” at risk.

Mr Donnelly has told the council Edinburgh risked paying a “heavy price” and being seen as “inward-looking and insular” if its cuts went ahead.

Mr Hardt-Stremayr said a “drastic cut” of 89 per cent cut was completely unheard of in international marketing.

He added: “I can’t think of anything like that happening anywhere in the civilised world.

“Sometimes you only realise what is gone when it’s no longer there. Sooner or later Edinburgh will wake up and find out that no-one is taking care of its brand, looking after its marketing and managing the flow of visitors. All the know-how about the city would be gone. It’s no coincidence organisations like this exist worldwide. Edinburgh is a benchmark for so many other cities. At a time of Brexit uncertainty, this would be incredibly short-sighted. It wouldn’t be brave, it would be totally stupid. This is a time when Edinburgh should be investing in destination marketing, not abolishing it.”

Jeannie Lim, chair of the Best- Cities Global Alliance, said: “Edinburgh has consistently been one of the leading lights on the global scale. Through the professional effort of Marketing Edinburgh, the reputation of the city has grown significantly amongst international congresses and events.

“We can say without a doubt that reducing or even eliminating Marketing Edinburgh will have serious and extensive repercussions.”

Mr Donnelly said: “It is frankly embarrassing to be in this position.”