Edinburgh festival to cap ticket numbers after residents' complaints
Organisers will limit daily sales for the first time in the fringe's history, citing overcrowding and the cost of housing performers
The Edinburgh fringe will cap daily ticket sales from next summer, the first limit of its kind in the festival's 79-year history, after a year of complaints from residents about crowding and from performers about the cost of staying in the city.
The cap, set at 140,000 tickets a day, is roughly 10 percent below the busiest days of this year's festival. Organisers said it would be reviewed annually.
Residents' groups welcomed the move. Venue operators said it would hit the smallest shows hardest, since the big-name acts sell out regardless.
The city council is separately consulting on a levy on short-term lets during August.