She suggested the visitor levy, which will add five per cent to accommodations bills for stays in the city from July 2026, would have a “significant part” to play in improving the new year festival.

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However the council leader highlighted the importance of the festival, which has been running for more than 30 years, continuing to stage free events in future.

And she said it was vital that the people of Edinburgh felt that the Hogmanay celebrations “belonged to them” to avoid resentment building up about the impact of the new year festivities.

A torchlight procession launched Edinburgh’s four-day Hogmanay festival on Monday night. (Image: Ryan Buchanan)

Cllr Meagher has pledged more support after the producers who have the current council contract to stage the festival warned that the current financing of the event is “precarious”.

They have called for a complete rethink of the “future viability” of the Hogmanay festival, which has been valued at almost £50m to the city’s economy in recent years, but gets just over £1m in public funding.

A torchlight procession launched Edinburgh’s four-day Hogmanay festival on Monday night. (Image: Ryan Buchanan)

The council’s annual Hogmanay budget was reduced by more than a third to around £810,000 eight years ago and the cut has never been restored.

A consortium formed by Unique Events and Assembly Festival secured a new three-year contract to produce the Hogmanay festival for the council in 2024-25.

Scotland goalkeeping hero Craig Gordon launched Edinburgh’s four-day Hogmanay festival, which got underway with a torchlight procession through the city centre. (Image: Ryan Buchanan)

Unlike most of the city’s major cultural events, the Hogmanay festival does not have any long-term funding from the Scottish Government.

Support secured in recent months for this year’s programme include £180,000 from the government’s Festivals Expo Fund, which is ringfenced for First Footin’ – a programme of free events staged in 17 venues across the city on New Year’s Day, including St Giles’ Cathedral, Greyfriars Kirk, the Fruitmarket Gallery and Portobello Town Hall.

The government agency EventScotland signed off a further £135,000 in November to help meet the costs of the torchlight procession curtain-raiser to the festival, which brought an estimated 25,000 people onto the streets of the city centre on Monday night.

Unique-Assembly director Al Thomson: “We are having ongoing discussions with the city council and the Scottish Government about the future viability of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.

“We have been saying for years that the event needs more support.

“Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is one of the few festivals in Scotland that has not received multi-year funding support from the Scottish Government. We are still in a situation where we have to put in applications every year for what is potentially available.

“We only found out about our funding application for the torchlight procession last month. We already had to commit to deliver the event and put tickets on sale due to the number of international enquiries that we get from people who want to know if it is taking place. There was a significant backlash a few years ago when we were unable to put it on.

“The discussions with the city council and the Scottish Government are ongoing and positive. I think there is now an understanding about where we are and how precarious it all is.

“At the moment, this festival happens because we are helping to pay for it to the tune of more than £250,000 a year.

“This is the flagship winter festival for Scotland. The images and content from Edinburgh’s Hogmanay are used year-round to promote Scotland. The value of that is considerable compared to the money that is actually put into the event.

“Edinburgh used to be pretty much shut over new year. It wasn’t welcoming and it certainly wasn’t accommodating the level of visitors who come to the city now for Hogmanay.”

Edinburgh is the first destination in Scotland to introduce a tourist tax, which is expected to generate up to £50m in additional annual income for the council.

The council has pledged to ringfence 35 per cent of visitor levy income for culture, heritage and events, although detailed spending plans are not expected to be published until February.

In an interview with The Herald, Ms Meagher said: “It’s important for people to know that decisions on how the visitor levy will be spent will be made democratically. Those decisions have not been made yet.

“However it would be reasonable to expect that there would be some contribution from the visitor levy to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay. It’s important to recognise the amount of money that event brings into the city.

“Visitor numbers throughout the year are increasing in Edinburgh, but there is no doubt that this time of year is a peak period for visitors.

“I do think the visitor levy would have to play a significant part in making Edinburgh’s Hogmanay even better than it already is.

“It is important to me as council leader feel that these (new year) events belong to them as well. We don’t want a kind of resentment building up.

“I think people just love them. There is a phenomenal sense of pride about living in a city that the whole world is looking at. I think most people in this city highly values that.

“The fact that there are free events for people is a really important part of that to make sure everyone can get involved in them.”