OUTWITH Festival provided a £155,000 injection to Dunfermline’s economy as more than 7,000 people flocked to the arts festival.

September’s five-day programme of events attracted thousands of festival-goers to the town.

Research conducted during and after the festival revealed a large increase in footfall in the town centre with local businesses thriving.

Chris Foote, events manager at Dunfermline Delivers, said: “The findings demonstrate a strong economic impact for the festival. But the most important thing is that the town worked together to stage this festival. Lots of volunteers gave up their free time to help – there’s momentum building behind the festival.

“Collectively, we can achieve more each year. Our focus is on programming a festival that people really enjoy and building the cultural profile of Dunfermline. More visitors and income for the town centre will then follow.”

Visitors spent £215,000 in the town over the five days, with the net spend coming in at £155,000 after expected spending was taken away.

The festival was funded primarily by Dunfermline Delivers and the BID company also raised revenue from Fife Council’s Dunfermline area committee, the council’s Strategic Events Fund and the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust.

The event required funding of just more than £60,000, but once the fundraised income is deducted along with ticket sales, the net cost to Dunfermline Delivers is around £24,000.

Chris Foote said: “We have managed to stage Outwith for a lot less because festival partners Avocado Sweet, Fire Station Creative and Write Rammy gave up their time and expertise for free.

"The music team also put in a huge amount of their time, skills and contacts into the live music programme. Many other people have volunteered their time for free, including young people from Headroom who worked during the festival to complete the face-to-face surveys.”

A total of 244 people were interviewed, with 29 business surveys carried out in person, with more than 100 online.

Research found that 98 per cent of festival-goers felt the festival was either very good or good, and 99 per cent said they would return to another Outwith Festival.

One business stated they had “over one hundred more customers over the course of the festival,” with another claiming that “they had four times the number of customers” they normally would have.

The report was written by Fife economic research company, 4-consulting.

While the majority of the 7,100 attendees were from Dunfermline or within 10 miles of the town, 13 per cent arrived from the rest of Scotland.

The music events were particularly effective in drawing visitors from further afield, with 65 live bands across the town centre.

More than half of visitors went for a drink, 40 per cent went for a meal, 18 per cent went shopping and 14 per cent visited other cultural or leisure attractions.

Councillor Helen Law, chair of Dunfermline area committee, said: “Fife Council is pleased to see that the Outwith Festival has had such a good response and that the economic impact is benefitting Dunfermline town centre.”