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You will remember how busy Edinburgh’s streets were just a couple of weeks ago, as the Capital played host to our annual summer festivals.  The noise outside my office now is a timely reminder that Edinburgh is a popular destination all year round - with our busy and bustling city welcoming around 5 million visitors each year.

We’re proud to bring some of the world’s best arts and culture to our city each summer. From the Jazz and Blues Festival in July, through to the Fringe, Art, Film, Book, Military Tattoo and International festivals in August, we’re truly spoiled for choice here in the culture capital of the world. I am pleased that 2026 has been a positive and memorable year for our festivals. The numbers paint a picture of another successful summer, with the Fringe reporting a record-breaking year featuring over 4,000 shows across 206 venues - over 2.8 million tickets issued and the highest ticket sales since the pandemic. Elsewhere, the Book Festival saw proportionally more tickets sold on a smaller programme alongside a 20 per cent increase in footfall.

It’s fantastic to see more residents than ever making the most of what’s on offer. Over half of Edinburgh International Festival tickets this year were sold to Edinburgh residents, and 41 local schools, charities and community groups benefited from the Fringe Days Out scheme. A lot of people think that the festival is just for visitors, but the evidence tells us a different story.

Meanwhile, more than 5,500 artists benefited from services at the new Fringe Central hub in its first month on Infirmary Street – a building that we made available at no cost so the Fringe could have a new permanent home. This is just one example of the year-on-year support we continue to provide to our festivals – both financially and strategically behind the scenes.

Aside from the cultural benefits our festivals bring to the city and our residents, it’s important to remember how vital they are to our economy. It’s estimated that they have a positive financial effect on the city to the tune of around £600 million annually - generated by visitors spending money on overnight stays, transport, food and drink and festival tickets. The city’s tourism sector alone employs around 40,000 people. Beyond that, of course, it affords us, as residents, the choice of restaurants, bars, and other attractions that we simply wouldn’t be able to enjoy otherwise.

For all these benefits, however, this also comes at a cost – to both the Council and to the city. None of this happens by accident and it’s thanks to considerable work and support from our officers and our partners in the lead up to, during and after the Festivals that they run so smoothly each year.

Despite the billions of pounds that the Festivals bring to Edinburgh every year, historically none of this has come to the council.

With that in mind, in July this year we became the first local authority in the UK to introduce a visitor levy – with the aim of sustaining Edinburgh's status as one of the world's greatest cultural and heritage cities and to ensure that a successful visitor economy is managed effectively – supporting our priorities as a city.

We have already agreed how to invest over £90 million of visitor levy revenue over the next three years - and this will help us manage the impacts of the visitor economy on the capital and support our world-class culture, heritage and events. Funds have been allocated to support a range of public services and infrastructure projects that benefit everyone – including, of course, our festivals.

It’s early days, but the levy is already delivering for our city. This includes increased police presence on our streets, investment in our parks and green spaces, new bins - and plans agreed for the delivery of new public toilets and our setted streets renewal programme. Visitor levy funds also allowed us to bring back the Festival Carnival to the streets, an event which was enjoyed by thousands of residents and visitors in July.

If any more evidence was needed, our £8 million combined investment in the Leith Theatre and former Royal High School as a new national centre for music is testament to our commitment to not only sustain Edinburgh’s reputation as a world-class year-round cultural destination to be enjoyed by all, but to ensure some of the city’s oldest buildings are restored and fit for the future.

I have said from the outset that it is fundamental that Visitor Levy funding does not just benefit one or two postcodes but communities across the capital. We want to spread the benefits of the levy and enhance the visitor experience across the city well beyond the Royal Mile, the Castle and the New Town.

A range of new funding streams means community groups, businesses, partner organisations and others will benefit from the levy funding now and well into the future. Last week we announced details of a new grant funding programme available for businesses to apply for up to £15,000 to enhance the visitor experience in the city.

Thanks to the levy, communities across the city will benefit from a share of a new £2 million pot which will allow residents to decide how the money is spent in their area.

As a Council, we’re proud to support our festivals, as we have done since the 1940s, and will continue to do. Last year alone the total value of support to Edinburgh’s festivals was just under £3.6 million. Not to mention the in-kind support we provide, including officers providing strategic advice and practical guidance, that is so often overlooked.

We have clearly heard the views of festival organisers, both in the public arena and in private – and on Thursday, councillors will agree next year’s funding settlement which, thanks to the visitor levy, will include an uplift.

A fully redesigned cultural funding programme will be agreed in early 2027, with funding in place from April 2028.

I want to continue conversations with the festivals in a constructive and positive way and I will stress again: my door is always open.

When the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir John Falconer, described his ambition for the International Festival of Music and Drama in 1947, a mere 2 years after the ending of the second world war, he said it should provide ‘a platform of the flowering of the human spirit’. As we mark the eightieth anniversary of the festival in 2027, we continue to honour these beginnings and work together to foster the special ability of our festivals to bring people together.