How affordable are Edinburgh's festivals?

Edinburgh is home to one of the world's biggest cultural events every summer as it is transformed into a festival city.

The Scottish capital hosts the Fringe, the International Festival and the Military Tattoo alongside film, art and book festivals during August.

Complaints about soaring prices in the city are nothing new – but recent years have seen increasing concerns about the cost of attending its summer festivals.

So how affordable is the city for acts and audiences? BBC Scotland has analysed some of the main costs for festival-goers to see if they really are paying more.

Kaitlyn Smith has attended the Fringe every year since moving to Edinburgh from Orkney 10 years ago.

She has worked handing out flyers as a way to offset the expense of seeing a range of performances over the course of a day.

The 25-year-old said the cost was the "biggest barrier" to local people getting the full festival experience.

"A full day out at the Fringe, you can spend £100 or £200 in a day," she said.

"If you are coming on holiday, you know you are coming to the Fringe. You know that you are saving up money to see it, but we're here the whole month and obviously we would like to try and do the Fringe as well.

"But you are paying £7 or £8 for a pint, £10 or £12 for food - that's one meal. And that's not even starting on your tickets for shows."

She added: "I think the shows are worth it, but if you want to see a big volume, you just can't."

Darren Neale, venue director at Greenside Venue in Edinburgh, told BBC Scotland that almost every cost associated with running a Fringe venue had increased significantly over the years.

He said utilities, insurance, technical equipment, transport and other operational costs had risen for the venue - but housing had seen the most dramatic change.

"The cost of staying in Edinburgh during August has risen exponentially over the last decade, creating challenges not only for performers but also for the staff and freelancers who make the festival possible," he said.

"We have seen our accommodation cost rise on average by 300% in the last decade."

He added: "The festival's affordability is one of the reasons it has become the world's largest arts festival, and there is a real balance to be struck between paying people fairly, covering rising costs and keeping live theatre within reach of audiences."

The price of finding somewhere to stay during August has long been an issue for the city and its festivals.

A slump in Fringe sales in 2022 was blamed on rising accommodation costs but sales recovered in the subsequent years, topping 2.6 million last year.

Earlier this year the city lost the TV festival to Manchester, with organisers citing challenges around "accessibility, affordability and sustainability".

Figures shared with BBC Scotland from commercial real estate data group Costar suggest average hotel prices have been growing year on year since 2019.

The average daily room rate in 2025 was just over £260, an increase of 9% on the previous August and 64% on pre-Covid levels. In comparison, the rate was £110 in Glasgow and £81 in Manchester.

Staying in self-catering accommodation is not much cheaper.

Figures from Visit Britain suggest renting an entire property in Edinburgh to sleep one or two people cost visitors £204.68 a day in August in 2025. The Glasgow rate was £161.67 and it was £106.92 in Manchester.

However, the price for a short-term let can vary dramatically depending on the type – such as a private or shared room within property or booking an entire home - and the number of people.

Visitors staying in Edinburgh this year will also have to pay the city's new tourist tax - an additional 5% on top of their original booking cost for the first five nights.

Due to a lack of publicly available data, we were unable to analyse festival accommodation costs at university-run establishments.

Last year 1.5 million Edinburgh residents attended the summer festivals, up from 1.4 million in 2024.

But high housing costs for those living in the city are not restricted to August. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests the capital boasts some of the highest average rents in the country.

But what about the cost of going to shows?

We analysed the average price of the cheapest ticket at the six August festivals - nearly 600,000 shows since between 2016 and 2026 - to explore if prices have changed over the last decade.

Our analysis found average ticket prices (excluding booking fees) increased in cash terms from £10 to £12.80.

When adjusted for inflation, the price of this year's cheapest ticket has actually fallen over the last decade. The figure is £1.37 less than it was 10 years ago, when the average cost was £14.17.

Sticking with real terms, average prices of the cheapest ticket were slightly higher before the pandemic but have broadly stayed around £12.75 since 2021 - despite the rising overheads for performers, production companies and venues.

The figures also vary by festival.

Over the last decade the average lowest ticket price increased in real terms from £19.83 to £20 at Edinburgh International Festival.

However, there has been a real term decrease at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, from £14.17 to £12.80.

Real term prices have fallen from £17 to £15.50 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival and from £14.17 to £12 at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Due to the nature of the event, tickets for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo are generally more expensive than other shows.

Our analysis found it saw the largest increase, with average lowest ticket prices rising by 36% from £35.41 to £48.

Lori Anderson is the director of Festivals Edinburgh, an umbrella organisation for the major city festivals.

She said that they are still seen as "incredible value for money" by residents and visitors alike.

"Costs across Edinburgh in August have risen significantly, particularly accommodation, and our festivals are actively grappling with those issues - albeit with no direct control over them," she explained.

"What we do control, however, are the events that happen every year.

"Our festivals work tirelessly to ensure tickets remain affordable for as many people as possible, putting in place ticket offers and concession prices for those who might otherwise feel excluded."

Festivals Edinburgh has estimated that the events contribute £852m to Scotland's economy every year

Anderson added: "We cannot be complacent - our festivals want to work with partners across the city to ensure that Edinburgh is a city where everyone can afford to live, visit and perform."

Using official listings data from Festivals Edinburgh we analysed the median lowest publicly advertised full price ticket from 2016 to 2026.

Prices were adjusted for inflation using Office for National Statistics data to allow for comparisons over time.

In the absence of ticket sales data, this allowed us to consistently measure like-for-like prices for each event, while reducing the impact of different pricing structures and models across the festivals.

The analysis does not account for tickets that may have been sold at a lower price due to promotions, nor concession tickets.

Pay-what-you-can, free shows and cancelled events were excluded from the analysis, as were booking fees. The analysis only includes shows that took place in June, July or August.

Additional reporting from Isobel Cottam and James Delaney.