The COVID-19 pandemic has had a swift and devastating impact upon Edinburgh's tourism sector. As Scotland eases from total lockdown, this PhD project will consider how Edinburgh's tourism, festivals and events, and hospitality, sector can adapt to the new world, and how the city can redefine itself in terms of becoming an attractive staycation destination for its local communities<br><br>As a leading international tourism destination, and Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh's identity is framed by its rich heritage and cultural contexts. It is designated by UNESCO as two World Heritage sites, a City of Literature, and branded as the ‘world's leading festival city' (Festivals Edinburgh, 2020). Today Edinburgh's eleven city-based festivals attract 4.5 million attendances from 70 countries worldwide, and generate £313 million for Scotland's economy (BOP Consulting & Festivals Edinburgh, 2016). Edinburgh's evolution as the festival city has seen destination managers' leveraging its festivals to drive event tourism (Todd, et al., 2017).<br>Nevertheless, recent pre-COVID discourses from Edinburgh's local communities and media have criticised commercial agendas of staging year-round festivals in Edinburgh's historic centre and its public spaces. Edinburgh has been described as being a city for visitors, and not for locals, with anti-tourism sentiment expressed in the media due to overtourism and commodification (Leask, 2019).