Enchanted Forest: Cost of running Perthshire light show soars by 30%, organisers said

Organisers of the Enchanted Forest light show in Highland Perthshire say the costs of running the event have increased by 30%.

For the last 21 years, Faskally Woods has been transformed for the month long event in October, attracting visitors from across Scotland and the wider UK.

Karen Bothwell is on the board of the Enchanted Forest and told STV News it’s more expensive to run this year than previously.

She said: “We’ve seen and I think this is across the industry, the costs have risen a round about 30 per cent.

“We’ve tried very hard to keep our costs contained, but the costs this year have risen between 20 and 30% across our suppliers.

“We’re trying really hard to make sure we keep this as a family event, which is affordable for families. And as a result of that while our ticket sales have gone up, they’ve only gone up by 10%.”

Last year more than 80,000 tickets were sold for the event which brought in nearly £10m to the local economy.

Provost Xander McDade is a councillor for the Highland Perthshire ward.

He said: “The Enchanted Forest extends the season quite significantly for local businesses, but it’s also a good way for local be to get a bit extra employment at the tail end of the year as well.

“A lot of people do just a few shifts across the period just to help out ahead of the pre-Christmas bit so it’s actually a really positive thing both for local businesses and from an employment point of view.

“And it’s a great attraction for people coming to the local area and a great advertisement.”

The Enchanted Forest will be returning again this October.