Edinburgh Gathering loses £600,000

[Phil]

Despite its apparent success the clan gathering in Edinburgh has finished up with a loss of £600,000 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/8308206.stm

I see that Edinburgh city council are to help bail it out - in other words my Council Tax!

[Jock Scot]

It saddens me to read that Phil, although I am not in the least bit surprised. Perhaps they should have remembered the locals after all?

[Bigkahuna]

That's what they get for not allowing whiskey.

[cessna152towser]

I think it is probably fair to say that although the Gathering itself was a loss maker, its spin off for the Scottish economy has been worth far more. I have certainly been aware of meeting more overseas visitors throughout the season. The recent Muster of the Clans here in the Scottish Borders in September was a spin off from the Edinburgh Gathering, specifically aimed at lowland and border clans and brought a lot of overseas business to our local shops and guest houses at a time of year when the tourist season would normally be winding down. Don't forget Homecoming Scotland 2009 isn't finished yet, we still have the St. Andrews' weekend events to look forward to next month.

[McClef]

It saddens me to read that Phil, although I am not in the least bit surprised. Perhaps they should have remembered the locals after all?

I know that many were put off by the ticket prices and controls etc and did not think it was value for money to attend. Always a difficult one to predict in advance though projection of income from numbers attending to control of costs.

Maybe some lessons will have been learnt for the future but I don't expect that will mollify those who have to pick up the tab on this occasion.

[Paul]

Im shocked that the company made a loss... maybe there wasnt enough sponsorship or something? It seemed to me that there were plenty of sponsors, plenty of people and lots of money being made.
Also if Edinburgh City Council pays half then that averages out as less than £1 each for everyone within the council region. I'm sure the council has generated many many times this simply from The Gathering event.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

It's always hard to judge the long-term economic impact of an event such as this. How much increased tourism might be generated in years to come from the publicity given to this event over the past year? A lot of people may not have come for the Gathering, but may have scheduled their Scottish vacations for a later time who saw promotional materials about the Gathering.

[Jimmy]

In Scotland itself there appeared to be a sort of apathy towards the gathering which was very sad as it was a spectacular occasion both on the 2 days at Holyrood Park and the pageant at the castle esplanade.

I felt that living in Scotland the publicity seemed to aimed at oversees with awareness of the event for locals lacking the publicity it required to get more people living in Scotland to attend.

Still credit must be given to the organisers who staged a magnificent weekend that Scotland had never seen before

[Jock Scot]

I know that many were put off by the ticket prices and controls etc and did not think it was value for money to attend. Always a difficult one to predict in advance though projection of income from numbers attending to control of costs.

Maybe some lessons will have been learnt for the future but I don't expect that will mollify those who have to pick up the tab on this occasion.

I am absolutely sure that price was not the only problem. I still meet people, up here, who still know nothing of this "homecoming" thing. I also know of many people who would have liked to have gone to the event -----had they known about it.

[Galician]

Let's not forget what impact the state of the economy might have had on attendence. I'm sure a lot of people who had hoped to go were either not able to or were too concerned about their jobs to make such an expenditure.