Edinburgh festivals break records in their 70th anniversary year
© Mihaela Bodlovic
As the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival draw to a close, statistics have been released showing 2017 as the biggest year in their histories.
According to the the Fringe Society, more people than ever attended shows at the Fringe, with an estimated 2,696,884 tickets issued. This number reflects a nine per cent increase compared to tickets issued at the same point last year.
This year was the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which ran from 4 to 27 August. Over 53,232 performances of 3,398 shows in 300 venues took place, with an increase of 29 per cent in the number of countries represented in the Fringe programme.
Chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society Shona McCarthy said: "This has been a very special year for the Fringe as we celebrated 70 years of defying the norm, 70 years of the greatest melting pot of arts and culture anywhere on the planet, and 70 years of Edinburgh as an internationally renowned festival city."
Running at the same time as the Fringe, the Edinburgh International Festival also announced a record year, with total sales reaching £4.3 million.
Over 2,020 artists performed from 40 nations at the International Festival in 2017. Overall attendance at the Edinburgh International Festival is estimated to be over 450,000.
Festival director, Fergus Linehan said: "As the curtain falls on the 70th anniversary International Festival we are struck by the generosity, enthusiasm and endless curiosity of Festival goers from Edinburgh and all over the world. We are hugely grateful to them and the thousands of artists who have lit up our stages and streets over the past month."
Next year's Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Fringe will both run from 3 to 27 August.
