Every August, Edinburgh welcomes thousands of visitors from all around the world to its 12 exciting festivals, including the legendary Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Tattoo. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the festivals have not worked closely with the travel industry to help organize trips for visitors. But that seems due to change soon with the creation of the new Edinburgh Festivals Passport.
"To date, the Tattoo (one of our 12 festivals) has worked brilliantly with the travel trade, but none of the other festivals have had the opportunity to work closer with them," says Susan Russell, marketing manager for Festivals Edinburgh. "Over the last six months, we’ve been in a period of consultation with the travel trade and each festival to develop product ideas and look at gaps in the market and opportunities for closer engagement. As such, while in New York we launched the Edinburgh Festivals Passport—a fixed-priced, fixed-itinerary product which provides clients with a way of navigating their way through the wealth of festival activity in August."
The Passport is on sale now, exclusively to the travel trade, for visits to Edinburgh from August 6-30, 2010. Depending on the date in August for which a Passport is purchased, it will include the Jazz and Blues and Mela Festivals at the start of August or the Book and International Festivals from mid- to late-August. All Passports will include both the Fringe and Art Festivals. Perhaps somewhat ironically, the Tattoo is not included in the Passport, but as Russell points out, the Passport can be added on to an existing Tattoo package or a fly/drive or touring package.
Visit www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk.