february essential trends

ESSENTIAL TRENDSBID MARKET INTELLIGENCEISSUE 65 FEBRUARY 2016

Princes Street, Edinburgh

IntroductionWelcome to February’s bumper edition of Essential Trends.

Although footfall fell slightly in comparison to January last year, hotel occupancy, retail sales and hospitality income all rose on the same period from 2015.

Dr Mark Robertson’s insightful analysis of the current market in Edinburgh makes fascinating reading, highlighting the positive uplift in retail and commercial investment in the city centre. Major projects such as those at Edinburgh St James, West Register, Standard Life on St Andrew Square and Premier Inn’s rapid expansion throughout the city have complemented a number of retailers committing to new space throughout the city centre. There is no doubt that investor confidence in our city centre is very strong.

This year’s visitor survey also makes fascinating reading, especially in that spend per visitor is on the rise by just over 3% with the largest increase in hospitality sales, reflecting the increase in spend in this area by residents. It was also interesting to note that over 50% of visitors to the city were from outside the UK.

The information contained in this report is reliant on our city centre partners reporting monthly figures to us and can I take this opportunity on thanking them for providing this vital information.

Roddy Smith Chief Executive

ContentsHotel Occupancy Page 3Footfall Page 5Sales Monitors Page 13EE Project update Page 15Crime Statistics Page 16 Edinburgh Visitors Survey Page 19Ryden 7 Parking Page 30Convention Bureau Page 33Edinburgh Airport Page 35

ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 3

Edinburgh Hotels Data for January 2016 The latest available data for January 2016 from STR Global shows that 59.6% of rooms were occupied in Edinburgh during the month. The average daily rate for rooms sold was £63.77 whilst the revenue averaged across all available rooms was £38.00. This is based on a sample of 101 hotels totalling 10,653 rooms in Edinburgh.

The latest data for January 2016 shows that both occupancy and revenue per room was higher than the last two years.

The occupancy rate in January 2016 was 59.6%, in 2015 was 57.7%, and the rate in January 2014 was 57.3%. Revenue per available room increased in cash terms by 5% on last year from £36.2 to £38.0.

Comparing the last three years, a pattern can be seen with peaks in August for revenue per room and dips in January for occupancy and revenue per room.

Looking at the year from April 2015 to January 2016 Edinburgh has had consistently higher occupancy figures than the comparator cities.


Edinburgh footfall index Edinburgh footfall figures for January 2016 are down by -34.3% compared to December 2015, and down by -0.7% compared to January 2015.

Princes Street was the busiest spot in the city centre with 872,446 people counted during January 2016, the last month in which figures are available. This represents a very small decrease of 0.5% on January 2015.

Monthly pedestrian numbers in the city centre follow an annual trend. They increase to their highest level of the year in August and fall to the lowest monthly totals during January and February before starting to increase again over spring and into the summer months.

As expected there was a decrease of 37.9% between December 2015 and January 2016, this is a around the same decrease that the month on month trend witnessed last year which was footfall on Princes Street declined by 33.5% between December 2014 and January 2015. The tables below show footfall in the City Centre and a breakdown by counter area. The daily information for the previous month is also presented in the charts.

The UK footfall Index shows a decrease of 22.5% between December 2015 and January 2016, and increased by 2.9% compared to January 2016.


Helen Dickinson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said:

“The improvement in shopper footfall witnessed in January provided a timely and welcome fillip to retailers at the start of the year, with retail parks once again recording a stellar performance. Indeed, this was the best overall

footfall performance for two years, and well ahead of the three-month average.

The further reduction in the shop vacancy rate is encouraging, more so against a backdrop in which online retailing is becoming increasingly popular.”


Day and night time pedestrian traffic in the Essential Edinburgh BID area

In January 2016 annual comparable footfall is down by 0.8% in the city centre on last year, with a larger decrease in footfall during the evening period.

Compared to last year footfall has shown an overall decrease in January 2016. This hides a lot of variation which we can see by breaking the day down into three periods: morning; core retail hours; and evening hours. The most noticeable change in January was the 3.0% decrease in the evening hours. The core retail period this January was only 0.2% lower than

last year, and the early morning period decreased by 2.2%.

The chart on page 11 shows the change in footfall over four different three hour periods. Around nine out of every ten visitors in the city centre are recorded over this 12 hour period. The largest change in footfall in the city centre compared to last year occurred in evening period


after 5pm where footfall decreased by 4.8%.

The change this January compared to last year shows a decrease in footfall numbers across most 4 hour interval periods. In the time period after 8am footfall decreased

by 1.3%, between 11am and 2pm footfall increased by 1.4%. The after 2pm time period decreased by 0.7% compared to last year and the largest decrease occurred in the after 5pm time period, as mentioned above.

Note: BID area annual comparison includes counter locations: FCUK Frederick Street; Jenners Rose Street; M&S Princes Street; Natwest George Street; Tiso Rose Street; and South St Andrew Street.


Day and night time pedestrian traffic in the Essential Edinburgh BID area cont...


Sales Monitors for January 2016Edinburgh retail sales were up a solid 8.7% in January 2016 compared to this month in 2015. This means that Edinburgh’s retailers performed better than their Scottish and rest of the UK peers as the Scottish average fell by 3.8% on a year earlier; in the entire UK sales were up 3.3%.Retailers participating in the Retail Monitoring Programme reported these figures for January 2016.

The figures for Edinburgh are based on a sample of city centre retailers. The majority of them taking part reported positive year-on-year growth; some bigger department stores were trading especially well which indicates that the January sales season was very successful for most. The figures for Scotland and the UK were reported from the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor and the BRC Scottish Retail Sales Monitor.

Hospitality businesses that take part in the Hospitality Monitoring

Programme reported an increase in sales of 13.0%.

Roddy Smith, Chief Executive of Essential Edinburgh, said: “Following a disappointing Christmas trading period for Edinburgh’s retailers, a 3.7% rise in sales will come as a welcome boost to the sector.”

David McCorquodale, Head of Retail at KPMG, commenting on the Scottish figures said: “Storms battered the Scottish high streets in January, resulting in the weakest performance for some time and a washout to start 2016.

“With the month producing 145% of average rainfall and only 63% of


average sunshine, it was one of the wettest and dullest Januarys for a century.”

Helen Dickinson, Director General of the British Retail Consortium, commenting on the UK total sales figures said “Following on from a somewhat disappointing Christmas period for retailers, the new year

kicked off to a strong start.

“The further reduction in the shop vacancy rate is encouraging, more so against a backdrop in which online retailing is becoming increasingly popular. However, the fact remains that one in every eleven retail premises in our town centres lies empty.”

You are sent this information before publication in Essential Trends if you agree to participate in the City Centre Monitoring Project. For more information about how to participate in the Tunover Monitoring Project please contact Tom Mathar, Research Manager at LJ Research, who manage this project on our behalf: [email protected] or 0131 623 6217.


Essential Edinburgh Project UpdatesEdinburgh Fashion Week 2016

Award winning Edinburgh Fashion Week (EFW) is returning in March 2016 after being crowned Best In-House Event at The Scottish Events Awards 2015. The second annual Edinburgh Fashion Week will take place from Saturday 5th – Sunday 13th March 2016. The launch weekend event will be situated at the Mound precinct, beside the National Galleries.

The launch weekend of fashion shows will bring together the Spring/Summer 2016 season’s clothing from chic boutiques and high street heroes for shoppers and fashion connoisseurs to view. All show

attendees will be given an exclusive Edinburgh Fashion Week shopping discount card to help them re-create their favourite looks from the weekend. This fashion focused event on the mound will also include exhibitions and retail pop-ups, as well as hosting an exciting food and drink offering. This will be followed by a week long retail promotion across the city.

This year our official charity partner is Walk the Walk, and we will close our opening day with a fashion show and auction featuring celebrity designed and signed bras. All proceeds will go to The MoonWalk Scotland.


Crime Statistics

By PI Croft, Police Scotland, based at the West End Police Station.

Theft House Breaking (Non – Domestic) (including attempts)

For the period 1st April to 31st December 2015 theft house breaking figures are 24% higher than last year to date, this amounts to 24 more crimes. It should be noted however that non-domestic premises includes business and retail premises as well as garden sheds and outhouses.

Theft HB remains a priority for Police Scotland, and Edinburgh Division, with the dedicated Operation RAC team providing an analytical and specialist overview. The formation of this dedicated unit continues to have positive impact in terms of detection and early identification of offenders, as well as crime prevention.

Common Theft & Theft by Shoplifting

There were 207 less recorded crimes pertaining to common theft in this period - a healthy 16% reduction. Theft Shoplifting however increased by 16% with a further 130 reports being submitted. A contributory factor could be the increased number of local supermarkets now operating in the City Centre. Detection rates remain similar to that of last year.

The sharing information scheme involving retailers, Check Out, continues to prove valuable allowing early detections especially involving travelling criminals who target our capital city.

A number of individuals have been reported for offences committed against hotels, gyms and from the person where they were subject to pickpocket activity.

During the year has seen the successful launch of ‘Gold Watch’ a bespoke information sharing protocol involving our jewellery retailers.

Officers will continue to work with partners to deter and reduce offenders.


Minor & Serious assault

Both serious and minor assaults have shown an increase, however the overall detection rate has continued to improve. Of note, the solvency rate in relation to serious assaults has shown an improvement of almost 18%. Last year we maintained our enhanced policing detail within the City Centre during weekend periods, specifically dedicated to respond to the night-time economy. Our Licensing Officer worked with local licensed premises and partner agencies in order to deter alcohol related disorder and related violence.

We continue to use ‘Think Twice’ bail conditions to ensure those committing crime linked to the night time economy are excluded from all city centre drinking venues until their cases are heard. This has been very successful; last year 196 bail conditions were issued, 4 persons identified breaching bail conditions, and 2 repeat offenders were identified.


Crime Statistics cont...Robbery

Within the period there were 31 robberies, with a solvency of 77.4%, this is on par with previous years, compared with the 5-year average of 40. Edinburgh still remains a very safe city in which to work, live and visit, and it should be noted that the majority of our violent and anti social crime is as a result of our varied and vast night-time economy. We will continue to work with partners to address this, in addition to our other multi-membership ward priorities.

Initiatives & Events

During the months of June, July and August every year, Edinburgh plays host to a number of International Festivals, greatly increasing the footfall within the city centre area. Operation Festival 2015 was this years’ policing response to these festivals, where colleagues from other areas in Police Scotland assisted local officers in providing a dedicated professional and effective policing response. A dedicated Policing team was also put in place this year for Edinburgh’s winter festivities, which are growing year on year.

Last year saw a number of protests and demonstrations within the city centre, often occurring with little or no notice. Our local officers, assisted by colleagues from across the division, were involved in policing these events; providing a lawful and proportionate response to the protest, balancing the rights of protestors with those impacted by the protest, with minimal disruption to the city centre.

2015 saw the introduction of 9 Council Funded Officers to the City Centre Ward. These officers continue to work closely with key partners, through the local Community Improvement Partnership, to find effective solutions to the issues identified, by the public, as local priorities. The four priorities identified in the Multi-Membership Ward Plan for the City Centre are: Assault and Violent Crime; Drug Abuse and Drug Dealing; Drunk or Antisocial Behaviour; Housebreaking and Theft.


Edinburgh Visitor Survey - Quarter 4 results According to respondents to the Edinburgh Visitor’s Survey, an ongoing survey conducted by LJ Research on behalf of Essential Edinburgh, tourists who expressed a preference said that the BID area managed by Essential Edinburgh outperforms the rest of the city centre with regards to: the quality of shops, restaurants and bars; signage; cleanliness and access by public transport. However, tourists say that parking facilities and ease of access by car were worse than the rest of the city.

Visitors to the New Town were asked about their experience of the BID area compared to other areas of the city. As illustrated in the chart on page 20, the quality of shops, bars, restaurants and cafes were rated higher than other areas of the city. Similarly, visitors found that it was easier to access the New Town’s Bid Area using buses and trains. Respondents also noted, however, that it was easier to access other parts of Edinburgh and find a parking bay there than it is in the BID. This is unsurprising considering the infrastructure restrictions in the BID area.

The table on this page shows how much Edinburgh visitors spend on different aspects of their trip. Overall visitor expenditure has gone up by 3.1% in Q4 2015 compared to this quarter in 2014. The Chart illustrates that visitors’ spending patterns have not changed hugely: it seems,

however, that in Q4 2015 visitors were more prepared to spend on experiences (both eating & drinking as well as entertainment spend was up). Staying visitors spent less on travel and transport in Q4 2015 compared to this quarter in 2015.


The chart on the following page provide information on visitors’ experience of the New Town / BID area compared to other areas in the city. Please note that the majority of respondents without a strong opinion were discounted.

The Edinburgh Visitor survey asks tourists encountered in the New Town how they perceive the BID area compared to the rest of the city in order to help Essential Edinburgh gauge their progress.


Although many respondents stated that they did not see a difference between the BID and the city overall in terms of the categories listed in the chart, it is interesting to investigate where the BID outperforms the rest of the city; and vice versa. The results are presented in the chart below.

Taken as a whole, the findings suggest that the area managed by Essential Edinburgh does perform very well in terms of the quality of shopping on offer as well as the restaurants and pubs / bars that are

within the area. Visitors to the New Town are more likely to say that cleanliness, safety and signage are better in the BID area compared to the city overall. The same applies to public transport where 95% of Edinburgh visitors think that the BID area is easier to access than the rest of the city.

As in previous year, the BID area is perceived to do less well in terms of parking facilities and ease of access by car – the physical layout of Edinburgh’s city centre continues to be a challenge in this respect.


Edinburgh Visitor Survey 2015 ResultsIn 2015, LJ Research interviewed 1,250 Edinburgh tourists encountered in the New Town to assess their profiles, reasons to visit, activities undertaken, satisfaction scores and expenditure patterns.

2015 has been another successful year for Edinburgh’s tourism industry with annual hotel occupancy rates at 83% on average and an average daily rate of £101.65. These are modest year-on-year growth figures in nominal terms that, however, are impressive considering that there were significantly more beds available to tourists in 2015 compared to previous years.

Visitors to the city do of course engage in various activities – not only sightseeing. They are

contributing significantly to the city’s retail and hospitality industry and, as such, an important market to understand and satisfy. That’s why Essential Edinburgh commissioned LJ Research to interview visitors to the BID area to understand who they are; why they come; what they do; what they like; and how much they spend.

As illustrated in the chart below, the vast majority of visitors come to Edinburgh for its history and the Castle. This suggests that a


traditional Scottish experience will appeal to visitors and, as such, retailers and restaurateurs might want to consider that Tartan and Tweed, Burns Banquettes and Whisky that are likely to correspond with the visiting audiences.

Whilst many reasons to visit are on par with the previous years, it is interesting to note that in 2015 there was a higher proportion of visitors who came because of Edinburgh’s pubs / bars and restaurants!

We asked visitors to the New Town which activities they have undertaken on their trip. The first chart on page 23 illustrates that 9 out of 10 are simply “walking around the city”. This is seemingly banal but actually important: only when they walk around the city will they contribute to our footfall figures and, consequentially, can visitors encounter the shops, cafes and restaurants.

Some 3 out of 4 visitors to the New Town are here to shop; almost the same proportion go to restaurants; only slightly fewer of them also go to pubs and bars. The chart illustrates that the BID Area benefits from visitor

attractions such as the National Portrait Gallery, Scott’s Monument and the National Galleries of Scotland as visiting attractions, museums and galleries are activities visitors to the city frequently undertake.

Promisingly, Edinburgh continues to deliver customer service at a high standard – that’s at least what visitors tell us. Visitors to the New Town rated the customer service at visitor attractions especially highly; they were least likely to give highest scores to shops which is perhaps an area of concern. However, qualitative feedback does not hint at poor customer service as such. It may be that the problems relate to opening times.

Very encouragingly, the chart summarising visitors’ expenditures on page 24 shows green arrows pointing upwards only. Visitors spent significantly more per person / per day on accommodation and entertainment; it also seems, however, that in 2015 visitors had more appetite to spend in pubs / bars and restaurants; and their shopping bags were fuller as spend on this category has increased, too.

Edinburgh Visitor Survey 2015 Results cont...


Edinburgh Visitor Survey 2015 cont...

Visitor Profile: Who are the tourists visiting the New Town

Edinburgh visitors coming to the New Town are from overseas and the UK in almost equal measure: as illustrated in the charts on page 25, 51% are from overseas (incl. 3% from Ireland) and 49% are from the UK. There is an increasing proportion of overseas visitors stemming from North America (i.e. USA and Canada). Visitors from further “Distant Cousin” markets – Australia and New Zealand – make up another 10% of all overseas visitors.

The increasingly international profile of Edinburgh visitors is widely debated in the local tourism industry; a recent focus has shifted on China – the fastest growing inbound tourism market for the UK. But other cultures who may be more prevalent in Edinburgh must not be forgotten: importantly for example, there is a high number of visitors from Muslim countries – e.g. Turkey, Middle Eastern countries, Indonesia – and some of them mentioned lack of Muslim friendly hospitality in Edinburgh. As such, hospitality businesses might want to consider more non-alcohol and non-pork options and hoteliers might want to

ensure religious programmes are broadcast in their TV channels.

The majority of visitors are under 35 years old – see chart on the following page. It may be that Edinburgh visitors encountered in the New Town are slightly younger than the average of Edinburgh visitors.


Market Review By Dr Mark Robertson, Partner, Ryden

Edinburgh city centre continues to attract retail and commercial investment, despite wider challenges facing the market. These challenges include online competition, and a very slow recovery in retailer demand which is yet to reflect improving consumer expenditure. Real wages are rising and retail sales in Scotland grew by 1% during the third quarter of 2015, and by 4% on an annual basis.

The city centre’s largest investment in a generation, Edinburgh St James, is underway. TH Real Estate’s £850 million redevelopment of the St James Centre secured planning consent during Summer 2015. Site enabling works began in January 2016 and closure of the existing centre to allow demolition is scheduled for Spring 2016. Anchor tenant John Lewis Partnership will continue to trade throughout the redevelopment. The developer anticipates that the new centre

comprising more than 93,000 sq.m. of shopping, leisure, hotel and residential accommodation will extend Edinburgh’s shopper catchment by 20% and promote the city’s retail sector from its current UK rank of 13th, to 8th place. Some existing occupiers of the St James Centre are anticipated to open in alternative city centre locations, potentially with tenant-only lease break options for those larger retailers which are planning to relocate back into the new centre in


improved accommodation.

Market activity in 2015 and moving into 2016 is focused on the core New Town retail grid between George Street and Princes Street.

Jewellers Laing has just relocated its flagship store from Frederick Street to the former Barclays unit at 72 George Street. Re-investment in Frederick Street includes kitchenware retailer Le Crueset (at number 34), opticians Vision Express (number 24), chocolatier Thorntons (numbers 9-11) and clothing and accessories outlet Pretty Green (relocating from Hanover Street to 22 Frederick Street).

Lululemon athletica opened a sportswear store at 57 George Street and clothing retailer Jaeger opened at number 35 in the former East unit (East having relocated to number 85).

On Princes Street, shoe retailer Skechers opened in number 79 and Card Factory took 119a (the former Phones 4 U shop).

A new retail format came to Edinburgh in December 2015, when Tesla Motors opened a showroom for its premium electric motor cars on Multrees Walk.

Nearby on St Andrews Square, Standard Life Investments and

Peveril Securities’ development is well underway and will include a TK Maxx store and six restaurants, of which New York contemporary steakhouse STK Rebel, barbecue lobster shack Big Easy and Bombay style café Dishoom will be opening their first restaurants outside of London.

Princes Mall’s rebranding as Waverley Mall also has a food and drink flavour, including Greggs, Chopstix Noodle Bar, Sushi Stop, and a Post Office to replace the St James Centre branch.

Diversification in this way to include non-retail uses continues to be a major market theme. Around half of demand for retail locations is coming from leisure operators, including bars, restaurants – particularly casual dining chains – and cafes. The line between retail and leisure continues to blur as asset managers seek to draw more customers, widen the expenditure base and increase dwell time in their malls and city centres.

Hotels, cinemas and health & fitness are also actively investing in city centres, including plans by Travelodge to create hotels within UK shopping malls. Premier Inn’s hotels on East Market Street and York Place are due to open during 2016, as are its Hub concepts at East Market Street and Rose Street. The Adagio Aparthotel on Canongate


and Courtyard by Marriott at Baxters Place are planned for 2017. The Haymarket will include a Staycity aparthotel and a Premier Inn hotel.

The indicators in the table highlight Edinburgh’s retail performance since 2010. Edinburgh has ranked between 12th and 15th in the UK based upon retail turnover. The city centre vacancy rate has gradually declined over the past 5 years. Prime rents remain broadly stable, although this masks significant growth in George Street while Princes Street has remained broadly static. The retail rental trend at a portfolio level is now recovering.

The city centre is complemented by - and in competition with - a substantial out-of-town retail offer. Some retailers are operating multi-store strategies in Edinburgh and investing both in and out-of-town, most notably at Fort Kinnaird which welcomed several retailers during 2015. Primark opened a new store in

the former Toys R Us unit (the latter has relocated within the retail park), while TK Maxx and HomeSense opened a combined shop. All new units in the £13 million leisure extension, which opened in spring 2015, were pre-let and include outlets for PizzaExpress, Nando’s, Frankie & Benny’s, Chiquito, TGI Friday’s and a seven-screen Odeon cinema. Out-of-town retail parks are increasingly important to retailers seeking to grow their online click-and-collect sales.

Recent property investment transactions continue to place Edinburgh at the top prime end of the market. Initial yields of 4.45% for 131-133 Princes Street (price £8.45 million) occupied by Halifax and 4.75% for Debenhams department store at 109-112 Princes Street (price £25.2 million) confirm investor confidence in the city centre market and its future growth potential.

Dr Mark Robertson is a partner at Ryden and head of the firm’s consulting group. He is editor of Scottish Property Review and is an External Tutor, Property Investment Appraisal (MSc) at Napier University. For more information about Ryden please visit www.ryden.co.uk

Ryden cont...


Parking Index: data 2016Parking is important for businesses in the city centre and the information below shows the number of times and length of time each parking bay is used during the chargeable period. The higher the turnover of paid parking spaces the more opportunities for shoppers to find a space. In the New Town there are 959 bays in zones 1A and 2, which covers the Essential Edinburgh BID area.

It should be noted that the average daily number of transactions per bay during trading hours and the average length of time parked are derived from transactions at parking ticket machines, the number of which varies throughout the year. The relatively low number of daily transactions per bay is likely to be due to the usage of the bays by holders of resident’s parking permits.

In the New Town over February 2016, the average turnover of

parking spaces per day was 1.8. This compares to 2.0 in the Old Town, 1.5 in the West End and 1.9 in the East End.

Parking utilisation

Shoppers looking to park their car are more likely to find a space in the streets that are less utilised. It is clear that George Street had the highest levels of utilisation. This means that the parking bays were used much more than the average of the bays in other streets. Thistle


Street, Little King Street, North Castle Street, and West Register Street are all used more than average for parking. The other streets are used less than average for parking with Glenfinlas Street having the lowest utilisation of paid parking spaces within the New Town.

For real time information on utilisation rates in off-street car parks follow this link: http://edinburgh.cdmf.info/public/carparks/list.htm

This table reflects the levels of usage of parking bays during the times when parking charges are levied (Monday – Saturday 8:30 am

– 5:30pm in areas with lower parking ticket sales and 8:30am – 6:30pm in areas with higher ticket sales.


Edinburgh’s Conferences

Marketing Edinburgh is the organisation dedicated to promoting Edinburgh to the world, and encompasses a Convention Bureau and Film Office.

Business TourismBusiness Tourism is vital to the economy of the city and delivers significant financial benefits for the city. It also positions the city positively in key industry sectors, brings global expertise into the community and provides a platform for future investment.

From January to December 2015, Convention Edinburgh alongside its members has confirmed 181 conferences, attracting just over 65,000 delegates to the city between 2015 and 2021 with an economic benefit of over £86 million. Over the last two months (December ’15 and January ‘16) Convention Edinburgh has secured 30 new conferences with a combined economic benefit of just under £14 million.

FilmIt has been a record breaking year for film productions in the region. In the last 12 months, an economic impact of £7 million generated from filming in the city region marks a 52% rise on 2014 figures.

The highest economic impact return in the organisation’s 25 year history, this was a direct result of

two large-scale, high-value TV drama productions One Of Us and The Secret Agent (both BBC productions), and feature film Tommy’s Honour, each basing their entire production schedules in Edinburgh.

353 productions completed in 2015, marginally down (3%) on last year’s figures, however conversion rates from filming enquires to completed productions, also increased by 3% on 2014’s figures. Other high-value feature films and TV productions to film on location in the region this year included Whisky Galore!, The BFG, The Correspondence and the second series of Outlander.

A combination of the right locations, 25% of Scotland crew base, tax credit benefits and hard work to facilitate and attract productions, has all helped strengthen Edinburgh’s reputation as a film friendly city.

These fantastic results also reaffirm the compelling case in favour of a film studio in the city region. A film studio would provide much needed facilities for companies, particularly from high value drama productions, to base their entire production (offices, build space


Confirmed Conferences

14 - 16 April 2016, World Bar Conference of 2016, 250 delegates

20 - 21 April 2016, VisitScotland Expo 2016, 800 delegates

26 - 29 April 2016, Fossil Insect and Amber Conference 2016, 150 delegates

1 - 4 May 2016, Open Mobile Alliance, 75 delegates

4 - 5 May 2016, 6th National Scottish Medical Education Conference, 800 delegates

7 - 13 May 2016, International Symposium on Ballistics, 500 delegates

13 - 14 May 2016, Festival of Architecture, 500 delegates

13 - 14 May 2016, UK and Ireland Prostate Brachytherapy Conference 2016, 150 delegates

17 -21 May 2016, 2016 British Reformation Tour, 100 delegates

17 - 19 May 2016, Structural Faults and Repair 2016, 350 delegates

etc.) in the region, not simply their location shoots. The benefits would be immediate and far-reaching, including increased economic impact to the Edinburgh city region.

Email: [email protected] Tel 0131 622 7337.

Upcoming ConferencesConferences which will take place during March, April and May 2016 have a combined value of over £15 million and will attract over 10,000 delegates. These include:


JANUARY PASSENGER NUMBERS: 21.7 PERCENT INTERNATIONAL GROWTH

Edinburgh Airport has announced January’s passenger numbers showing 700,142 people passed through the airport in the first month of the year.

The total change represents double digit growth from January 2015 with an exceptionally strong showing in the number of international passengers, where a 21.7% annual hike was recorded.

In terms of international passengers this is the greatest monthly increase since January 2008 when the number of international passengers increased from January 2007 by 26.3%.

Welcoming January’s passenger figures Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport’s Chief Executive, said:

“January’s passenger numbers are very welcome indeed and the massive increase in the number of international passengers highlights

the growing draw of Edinburgh as a prime global destination.

“We are continuing to offer greater choice with more routes and more destinations– and passengers are responding by flying in and out of Edinburgh directly in greater numbers than ever before.

“People ask me how much more Edinburgh Airport can grow in a country with little over five million people; it is not the five million I am worried about - but how the other seven billion across the globe get to visit us.”

Annual Figures

Edinburgh Airport has announced that a grand total of 11,130,584 passengers passed through the airport in 2015 making it the busiest ever year at a Scottish Airport.

The annual total represents an increase of over 950,000 passengers from the 2014 total


- further cementing Edinburgh Airport’s reputation as the place where Scotland meets the World.

The success was bolstered by particularly strong international passenger figures – which in December peaked with a 19% year-on-year growth.

Welcoming the annual passenger figures Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport’s Chief Executive, said; :

“Last year we enhanced passenger choice by offering more routes and more destinations– and passengers responded by choosing to fly in and out of Edinburgh Airport in greater numbers than ever before.

“This unprecedented success of 11.13 million passengers through our doors highlights the draw of Edinburgh as a destination and the growing appeal that Scotland holds across the globe.

“The 2015 annual total also

represents an increase of over 950,000 passengers from the previous year.

“We remain focused on delivering more success in the year ahead. In 2016 we will continue to improve the passenger experience at Edinburgh Airport with a multi-million pound investment in our check-in and baggage systems, an improved retail offering with greater choice products and we aim to expand our range of new routes and destinations in the year ahead.

“Our international passenger figures for December show a 19% year-on-year growth; this is a strong indicator of our global ambitions and gives reason to be optimistic about further growth in the year ahead.” More information from: Stuart Young, Communications Officer 07730 148022 [email protected]

www.essentialedinburgh.co.uk

139 George StreetEdinburgh, EH2 4JYt: +44 (0) 131 220 8580 e: [email protected]

t: +44 (0) 131 200 2000e: [email protected]/citycentremonitoring

To contact the City of Edinburgh CouncilTo contact Essential Edinburgh:

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