Report – WTM2005: International arrivals in Edinburgh increased an impressive 18% in 2004, to 940,000 – according to new figures from the International Passenger Survey…
Report – WTM2005: International arrivals in Edinburgh increased an impressive 18% in 2004, to 940,000 – according to new figures from the International Passenger Survey – and outperforming the 12% count for total-UK.
Indicators – including visits to the city’s Tourism Information Centres, website visitation etc – are that growth continued this year. In the latest visitor business monitor for Edinburgh, over 80% said that major European markets had grown.
Growth is helped by more international flights. The airport handled 7% more passengers in 2004 (8mn), and 10% more in the first half of this year.
Prague and Copenhagen have got new routes this year, and capacity has increased to Cologne and New York Newark. Others planned are Warsaw (Central Wings, due to start this month), Geneva (easyJet, from next month), Helsinki (Finnair, from April 2006), Atlanta (Delta, from May 2006), and Munich (BMI, Spring 2006).
Edinburgh’s programme of 10 overlapping summer festivals attracted 2.6m attendees in 2004 with over 15% from overseas, according to a newlypublished survey. And the International Festival and the Fringe have spawned other festivals – on films, books, television, computer games, and music.
Edinburgh tourism officials say many factors will help growth through 2006. These include the 2005/06 Heineken Cup (European rugby tournament), the interest generated by Rosslyn Chapel (which features in Dan Brown’s ‘Da Vinci Code’ novel), and new funding from VisitScotland of US$1.8mn (
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
