Festival traders sunk by turnout

ANGRY traders have branded the International Festival of the Sea a washout after they lost money when the showpiece event attracted tens of thousands fewer visitors than expected.

Organisers of the four-day event had predicted that about 125,000 people would flock to Leith over the Bank Holiday weekend, generating about £10 million for the local economy.

But it is thought to have attracted less than half that number.

Police said around 43,000 attended the event over the first three days but figures for yesterday, the final day, were not available from either police or organisers. Now traders, who are believed to have paid substantial fees to set up stalls at the festival, have hit out at the organisers, claiming the event has been a fiasco.

They have blamed the £15 visitors’ entry fee for putting many people off attending the event and leaving stallholders facing losses.

Marisa Campanile is joint partner at Caffe Espresso on Bank Street, which booked one of the 160-odd stalls at the event.

She said: "It has been a disaster from our point of view. We will probably lose money from this and I think we will complain to the organisers.

"All the traders around us who we spoke to have been disappointed as well. We were not told there was going to be a £15 entry fee for visitors at first, we were only told when we had committed to the event.

"I think the fee put people off coming. I think the public felt exploited by the entry fee, and they were also complaining that the event was too spread out."

She added: "I think there was a lack of organisation overall."

Jan Johannson, a partner at the Mussel Inn, in Rose Street, which provided catering at the festival, was also unhappy at the lack of trade.

He said: "There could have been more people. It was perhaps the wrong place to have the festival, or perhaps the wrong time of year."

But Stuart Kennedy, general manager at Malmaison, in Tower Place, said he was happy despite the turnout.

He said: "The turnout was less than expected and I’m sure the entry fee had something to do with that.

"I think a lot of local people would not have wanted to pay £15 to go. People were talking about problems with car parking and that the events were very spread out as well."

However, he added that his stall, selling seafood, had done well, saying: "We were quite happy. We have been fairly busy since Friday."

The criticism of the entry fee was echoed by Liberal Democrat city councillor Fred Mackintosh.

He said: "I see difficulties with paying for what is effectively just wandering around. With something like this it is difficult to see enough attractions to get £15 out of somebody."

However, organisers today defended the event.

James Stewart, exhibitions director, said: "Friday was disappointing, although Saturday and Sunday were good. We would have liked more people, of course.

"We still consider the entry fee to be very good value for money. There was a huge amount of entertainment.

"There were 1000 entertainments, lots of displays such as traditional boats - that is why there was a fee."