COUNCILLORS in Edinburgh need to manage the tourists they have rather than chase after new markets, one of the capital’s leading heritage bodies has claimed.

The warning from the Cockburn Association comes at the end of a festive period that has seen increasing tensions between residents and Underbelly, the firm who organise Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay events which brings tens of thousands of visitors into the city.

The last of those tensions came on New Year’s Day at the annual “loony dook” when revellers throw themselves into the water at South Queensferry.

The £12-a-head event was marked as sold-out by the company, prompting criticism from local politicians.

READ MORE: Tensions grow over annual Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations

Susan Rae, a Green councillor for Leith Walk, tweeted: “I don’t know what’s worse: charging people £12 to get in the sea or people handing over £12 to get in the sea?

“How can you ‘ticket’ the damned Forth?”

Responding to Edinburgh City Council’s draft tourism strategy for 2030, the Cockburn Association warned that unmanaged growth of the tourism industry would not be an “unmitigated benefit” for the city.

In their response, published in yesterday’s Edinburgh Evening News, the association states: “What we need to question is events which are out of sync with the character of the city, and large-scale projects, largely financed from outside, mainly designed to generate profit rather than meet the real needs of residents or visitors.

“We need to be much more cautious about the capacity of the city to absorb major new projects/events (or expanded existing projects/events).

“The council needs to be more assertive in requiring investors to demonstrate clearly the benefits of projects to the city.

“In this, the apparent conflict of the city council in both promoter and regulator needs a much more coherent framework, and one which residents and local communities in particular can have confidence in.

“Regrettably, this is lacking at the moment.”

The response adds: “The desire to move from driving growth to managing growth is welcome, but is still a growth model.

“Managing the existing levels of tourism should be the starting point before any quantitative increase is contemplated.”

The consultation on the council’s draft strategy closed on Monday December 15.

Earlier this week, responding to criticism of Underbelly and the local authority, Adam McVey, the leader of Edinburgh Council promised a “city-wide conversation in 2020 to help shape future events”.

READ MORE: Edinburgh Hogmanay organisers criticised over home passes confusion

The firm was also criticised when it seemed that residents living in the dozen or so streets closed off for the Hogmanay street party would need to limit party guests in their own homes.

A nativity sculpture and the city’s Christmas Tree was also removed from Princes Street Gardens to make way for a Johnnie Walker whisky advertisement.

In an interview with the BBC, Underbelly boss Ed Bartlam defended the company.

He insisted the event had “never prevented residents coming to their own properties”.

Bartlam suggested there were ulterior motives behind some of the criticism directed towards his firm: “There is a wider conversation going on in Edinburgh at the moment around the impact of festivals and the vast majority of people in Edinburgh understand the cultural, social and economic benefit of amazing festivals like Hogmanay.

“There are some that feel that there are too many of these and are potentially using some suggestions of residents not being allowed access which is untrue as a way of pushing that view.”