Edinburgh is hosting its annual Hogmanay party, with visitors from over 80 countries traveling to the Scottish capital. The city’s celebrations include a street party with 50,000 attendees watching a concert in Princes Street Gardens headlined by the nineties band Pulp. The party is broadcast throughout the city center, and this year marks the 30th anniversary of the event.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay began on Friday this year, with the return of the torchlight procession, a tradition that was absent from the event for four years due to difficulties in obtaining funding. Pandemic-related restrictions led to the event’s cancellations in 2020 and 2021. The procession was watched by approximately 20,000 people and included a “river of fire” making its way through the Old Town to beneath Edinburgh Castle.
According to Al Thomson from Unique Assembly, which is organizing the events, this year’s party will resemble pre-pandemic celebrations. “Pretty much everything will be sold out,” he told BBC’s Good Morning Scotland. “We want to gradually increase those numbers back to where they were pre-Covid, and we are going in the right way. The public interest is there – people want to come and celebrate in Scotland.”
Inverness’s Red Hot Highland Fling will also occur today and is one of the most significant ceilidhs globally, according to organizers. This is the first year that Highland Council has charged for the event, which cost £10, and the council predicts that it will generate up to £50,000 to help cover the cost of the New Year’s Eve celebrations held throughout the city.
Scotland hosts such events to provide an opportunity for people worldwide to congregate, share, and connect through memorable experiences. Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s events director, said that “Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and our wider Winter Festivals are cornerstones of our globally acclaimed cultural calendar, and I’m sure that this year’s special anniversary edition will once again be a success.
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