Edinburgh International Festival: 2024 Ticket Prices

My two previous articles about the 2024 Edinburgh International Festival have shared some good news – more opera in the programme, an earlier date for programme release and the EIF’s new commercial sponsor - as well as raising concerns about the EIF’s finances.  However despite this article’s heading, I have no news to impart on how much you’re going to pay for your tickets this year or whether some of them will cost twice as much in July as they will in March.  Last summer the Edinburgh Music Review reported the EIF’s adoption of a dynamic pricing policy.  You can read the article and the EIF’s response here. Did this policy work, and will we have dynamic pricing again this year?

We now know that the question of dynamic pricing was discussed in autumn 2022, as the EIF Financial Report (dated October 2022, and published in August 2023) noted, “(We are) carefully exploring the opportunities presented by initiatives such as dynamic pricing of tickets.”  However the introduction, operation and outcome of dynamic pricing have never been officially announced by the EIF. For an organisation which is remarkably transparent in making public the details of its finances in those Annual Financial Reports, this is surprising and disappointing. 

The 2023 Report published in December shows that there appeared to be a small increase in the sum raised from ticket sales in 2023 – 22% of  total income as opposed to 19% in 2022, but this is offset by the increase in the amount paid out In media and ticketing costs - 13% of total expenditure in 2023, 11% in 2022.  There’s a lot of detail missing in these figures but I’d guess that dynamic pricing did not increase ticketing revenue in any significant way. 

Th EIF’s spokesperson said last July that dynamic pricing would help fund generous concessions for people with a disabilities, young persons, arts workers and the unemployed.  However, as I noted then, these concessionary tickets were offered as a percentage reduction on the full ticket price and so were also subject to price increases as standard ticket prices rose.  A 35% concession off a £20 ticket is welcome, but I doubt if many people went for the 35% discount on a £70 ticket.  More successful were the £10 on the day tickets for those in concessionary groups, whom it was good to see in large numbers at some concerts.  However those Queen’s Hall morning concerts which were sparsely attended saw little benefit from the scheme – one staff member told the EMR’ s editor he’d seen only two £10 tickets.  

One major success was the new scheme for people with a disability to register, which made their access to concessionary tickets much easier.  As in 2022 the EIF worked with an organisation called Tickets for Good to provide free tickets for selected concerts to NHS workers and their families. The free events, which were apparently also funded by dynamic pricing, were popular with the opening and closing outdoor concerts and the free Hub talks attracting good attendances.

Despite these positives, I hope that the EIF does not use dynamic pricing this year, and that a clear announcement is made about this soon.  Also on the wish list would be:

Low-priced tickets, not subject to price increases, for those in concessionary groups.

More events with a single price, not subject to price increases, for standard tickets. The £25 tickets proved popular last year, especially for Traverse drama and Hub music.

Usher Hall Stalls tickets available at the two lowest price points. The EIF, unlike other classical music organisations, restricts its lowest prices to the Upper Circle, which is unsuitable, according to the Hall’s website, for those with mobility problems or issues with heights

£10 tickets available to everyone on the day, not just those in concessionary groups. There’s no reason to believe this will affect normal sales,. The publicly funded Royal Opera House and National Theatre see no problem in selling cheap Friday Rush tickets.

Finally whatever the decision on ticketing, the EIF is still short of money.  If you don’t already have a Friends Membership, or would like to buy one as a present, you can support the EIF by buying it now with prices from £60.  For a short period matching funding will double the amount paid, so your £60 raises £120 for the EIF. See membership options here.

Good luck with booking the tickets you want and enjoy the 2024 Festival!