Edinburgh Fringe Achieves New Box Office Record

The Edinburgh Fringe, which concludes today (30 August 2010), has again achieved record ticket sales. Organisers estimate that for this, the 64th annual Fringe, the final reconciliation will show nearly 2 million tickets (1,955,913 to be exact) will have been sold over the three-week festival from 6 to 30 August – up 5% from the record of 1.85 million tickets set last year.

The upsurge is echoed by big venues such as Gilded Balloon, which also released its individual results today and saw an 8% increase in sales in its 25th anniversary season at the Fringe.

It was a record-breaking year at the Fringe by almost every other measurement too: an estimated 21,148 performers (up from 18,901 in 2009) gave 40,254 performances (a massive jump up from 34,265 in 2009) of 2,453 shows (2,098 in 2009) at 259 venues. Of the 2010 offerings, 558 shows were absolutely free (up from 465 last year) and there were also 662 high street acts from buskers to Fringe performers.

Comedy remained at 35% of the programme, followed closely by Theatre with 29% (up 1% from last year). Music was 16%, Musicals & Opera 5%, Dance & Physical Theatre 4.5%, Events 4.5%, Children’s Shows 4% and Exhibitions the final 2% of the overall Fringe programme.

Fringe Society chief executive Kath M Mainland commented: “Audiences have come to know the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as the place to see every kind of art; from the most imaginative children’s theatre to topical and incisive comedy and theatre which challenges audiences to discuss and reconsider their world. Edinburgh is without doubt the world’s leading festival destination and audiences continued to be inspired and enthralled by the many and varied events on offer.

She continued: “I have seen and met performers from all over world from established names to those make their first foray into the industry. They have attended the Fringe for every possible reason, to make audiences laugh, think and imagine, and to get their work seen and develop their creative skills… That every person who has performed as part of the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe over the last three weeks chose to be here is exactly why the Fringe is greatest show on earth.”

More than half a million people plan their August holidays each year around a trip to Edinburgh. Though commonly seen as one single festival, the event is in reality several different festivals – the main ones being the original Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe, the Military Tattoo, the Film Festival and the Book Festival – of which the Fringe is, by far, the largest, representing 75 percent of the overall festival market share and annually generating around £75 million for the local economy.