Edinburgh Fringe 2012 ticket sales down by 1%

The Edinburgh Fringe has seen a fall in the number of tickets sold over the duration of the festival for only the second time in more than a decade.Overall ticket sales were down by approximately 1 per cent, with organisers claiming the clash with the Olympics as a major factor for the fall in numbers.

However though the Olympics clashed with the first nine days of the Edinburgh Fringe, the festival saw a 20 per cent sales surge after the closing ceremony.

In total over 1.8million tickets were sold at the Fringe in 2012, which doesn't include the amount of people who went to free shows.

Kath Mainland, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: "‘I’m delighted to say that the Fringe is in fantastic health, with over 1.8 million tickets issued and many thousands of audiences attending over 814 free events across the city.

"The Fringe has shown its resilience in responding so positively to the unique challenges of 2012.

"The loyal and enthusiastic audience has once again been treated to the most amazing cultural experience and has been both entertained and challenged again and again by a programme of spectacular work across all artforms and from all around the world."