Visitor numbers up for Edinburgh's Christmas
More people visited the events despite lots of controversy.
Last updated 8th Jan 2020
The controversy surrounding Edinburgh's Christmas market did nothing to deter visitors with footfall up by five percent on the previous year.
The event in East Princes Street Gardens attracted just over 2.6m people over the festive season.
Organisers Underbelly also say nearly 200,000 people with an EH postcode took advantage of a 20% discount which is a rise of about 24%.
Concern was raised about the event's growing size and a lack of planning permission but people still flocked to the attractions.
The Christmas Market 'de-rig' is currently underway and is due to be completed on 20th January.
Underbelly has been in discussions with the city council about how to re-turf the Gardens as quickly as possible.
In a statement, Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam, Directors of Underbelly and Edinburgh’s Christmas said, "We are pleased to be able to report on the success of Edinburgh's Christmas.
"We acknowledge some of the concerns voiced around the event and we look forward to working closely with the City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh residents and other stakeholders to review the event and to look at where and how we can make improvements.
"We are proud of the fact that our production has saved the local taxpayer £1m a year compared to the previous contract".
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