IT had, on the face of it, all the makings of an "annus horribilis" for Edinburgh's money-spinning festivals.
Festival directors, venue producers, promoters and performers have had the jitters for months about how this year's extravaganza would play out.
A slump in hotel bookings, a slide in consumer spending across the UK, a poor exchange rate with the U
nited States and the Fringe's much-publicised box office problems would have been enough to cope with.
With the nation seemingly gripped as Britain's Olympic team surpassed all expectations in Beijing, probably the last thing the festivals needed was weeks of poor weather.
Despite it all, reports from the various festivals and venues are almost universally positive. Though there is more than a week of the International Festival to run, and the Fringe and the book festival do not end until Monday, better-than-expected box office results are emerging.
No-one denies the festival atmosphere around the city has not been the same this year, mainly due to bad weather. Hotel bookings are widely predicted to be down, perhaps by more than 5 per cent.
But there is widespread relief that the Fringe, in particular, has recovered from its box office woes, and at how busy major venues have been. In some quarters, there is a sense of celebration at the number of sell-outs, while others admit to benefiting from the bad weather.
But behind the relief there is anxiety about the future – mainly over whether the Fringe box office will be running smoothly when sales open next June. Other concerns include the impact of the new comedy festival, the lack of co-ordinated marketing of the festivals, how to ensure more tickets are sold to other parts of the UK, and poor late-night transport.
The dismal weather has taken the shine off the season, particularly because of its impact on the shows trying to promote themselves on the Royal Mile, the main flyer area.
The Edinburgh Art Festival is expected to report its strongest season since launching in 2001, thanks to the huge success of shows such as Tracey Emin's, the advent of the new Ingleby Gallery and record-breaking numbers at the Fruitmarket.
David Bates, who runs the Spiegelgarden, said: "The only big problem for us has been the weather. It's been the worst in 12 years we've been here. However La Clique (the venue's supper club] has really made the festival for us this year. We've been sold out for every performance for over a week now. "
John Barrow, promoter of the Acoustic Music Centre, said: "Our figures are roughly in line with last year, which is a huge relief. I'm not sure the problems with the box office affected us, but the weather has. We usually get a good walk-up and we'd have expected to do better."
Other venues insist this year has worked out better than expected, even though they admit the number of visitors from outwith the city is well down.
John Simpson, producer of The World, a new venue at St George's West Church this year, said: "Toby Gough and I have just been relieved we've not been staging our outdoor shows at the Botanics this year as we've done previously. We reckon we'd have had to cancel loads of shows due to bad weather and it could well have bankrupted us. As it turns out, we've had an excellent festival, even though there are definitely less Americans around. We've had fantastic reviews and the people of Edinburgh have come out in force."
While many senior Fringe figures are sleeping slightly easier now than a month ago there is still concern about how to ensure the future of the event, dogged by bad publicity over the "breakaway" comedy festival and the failing box office.
The Fringe has announced an independent inquiry into the box office debacle and a separate probe into its future, but it points to the new EXPO fund from the Scottish Government as a sign of good things to come. The Fringe has been allocated £200,000 for the next 12 months to pay for a curated showcase of Scottish-based performers and producers.
Fringe director Jon Morgan said: "Many Scottish artists will benefit from additional support and funding through the Made in Scotland programme.
"The fund will allow artists to take greater creative risks or stage more ambitious projects at the Fringe. Support and advice will enable companies to make sure they can take full advantage of performing at the world's largest artistic showcase."
Senior figures at the city council are believed to be in favour of other – as-yet-unnamed – events relocating elsewhere in the calendar to spread the benefit of the festivals.
One source said: "The moving of the film festival to June was a huge success, despite the initial doubts many people had. The big question is which other festivals could safely move dates."
First Minister Alex Salmond said he wanted to see further work done to ensure that festival hits were revived elsewhere around the country to give audiences outwith the capital a chance to embrace them.
He said: "With successful shows, they quickly sell out and it becomes impossible to get in. It would be great to see more shows like Black Watch brought back and their success spill over to the rest of the country."
Despite the controversy over the new Edinburgh Comedy Festival, Charlie Wood, director of Underbelly, one of the "Big Four" Fringe venues, defended its introduction and insisted such moves were necessary.
"I'm not saying it is the only way but one of the ways of promoting the Fringe is through the Edinburgh Comedy Festival. We're going further into a recession which means we can't put ticket prices up and we can't start charging performers more and yet we need to increase the money for marketing – the only way to do this is sponsorship.
"The big thing we need to improve is to market the Fringe properly to the rest of Scotland and the UK as the awareness of the festival is just so poor at the moment. We desperately need to look at transport infrastructure – it's just bonkers we can't run trains through the night to Glasgow, Perth and Dundee."
Amy Saunders, of Festivals Edinburgh, said plans for a co-ordinated marketing campaign, backed by all the festivals, were well advanced.
"We're on the verge of recruiting a head of marketing and a marketing manager," she said.
Tommy Sheppard, director of the Stand Comedy Club, hopes this year will be the first and last comedy festival, saying: "I hope they can be persuaded to come back and play the same game as everyone else."
For others, simply ensuring the Fringe box office is up and running properly next year is the main priority.
Bill Burdett Coutts, artistic director at Assembly, said: "The festival nearly suffered a major catastrophe. The problem has been a wake-up call and we look forward to working with the Fringe to make sure this great event not only survives but thrives."
Anthony Alderson, artistic director at the Pleasance, said: "The VIA box office system we've been using has been built specifically for this environment, and is the only viable system for the Fringe."
The longer-term concern for the festivals may be what impact the global downturn has.
Arianna Knapp, a Los Angeles-based theatre producer who has had three shows at George Square Theatre, admitted the Fringe had been "a struggle".
"The two big factors for me have been the pound-dollar exchange rate and the weather. I know at least 12 theatre producers from the US who just didn't come to the Fringe this year because of the high costs due to the exchange rate and we've really been affected by the cost of everything."
Badly let down by an inefficient system - Kevin Williams Director of the Invasian Festival THE box office has been inefficient from day one. We have had shows at the Invasian Festival that have been sold out on the website for two weeks and when the shows went on, maybe only six or seven people arrived because information on the website was incorrect.
We have had people coming to our box office complaining they couldn't get through on the phone to the Fringe box office and they were getting misinformed all the way down the line. The Fringe has been unreachable and unaccountable – with no-one taking responsibility or explaining what was going on.
I think it is incredible, considering the escalating costs of coming to the Festival. Just an entry into the Fringe brochure now costs each company about £300. I would recommend that all companies which have suffered should go for compensation for at least their registration fee and any other costs they have incurred.
I understand the Big Four have put out a statement saying everyone has won through and there hasn't been a huge effect on the Festival – but they have their own box office system, so I suspect they are the only venues that have had a successful Festival.
We put a lot of energy into the Invasian Festival, which launched this year. I would estimate that our potential earnings have been slashed by 50 per cent because of this debacle. All we expected from the Fringe was an efficient box office system and we have been badly let down.
We should all be proud of historic hit - Pete Irvine of Unique EventsON ONE hand, this has just been a computer glitch – albeit one that has affected a lot of people. I feel it is a wake-up call but not a fire alarm.
The Fringe has been established for a very long time – it involves the creative input of thousands of people and it is not a form which can be imitated elsewhere. It is a historical thing. Anywhere else that tries to create its own fringe will never come close to it and that is something we should be pleased and proud about. So there is no question of survival.
But there is a question of how we move forward – especially in the face of increasing competition. In the UK it is not just Manchester and Brighton that hold fringe festivals but also festivals like Latitude, which increasingly feature a lot of Fringe-type events.
I think it is great that the people of Edinburgh still come to the Fringe in vast numbers, but we also have to look at the people who are coming from other parts of Scotland, the UK and overseas. The Fringe is a difficult thing to promote because it is not just about big names. You can't just sell it in terms of big names because it is about so much more than that.
I think it should be celebrated and it should be valued and everyone should help make sure it moves forward. Changes will have to be made but there is no question that the Fringe will continue to be something we should all be proud of.
