The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has started.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the globe are expected to descend on the capital over the next few weeks, in spite of the difficult economic situation.

Performances by big-name stars such as Denise van Outen, Julian Clary and Alistair McGowan are included on the programme of the world's biggest arts festival, featuring over 2,000 shows from 60 different countries.

While most of the shows are comedy, around a third of the performances are theatre or musicals, with opera and dance also featuring.

Organisers say they have a 'robust' ticket system in place, to avoid a repeat of the problems that hit the event last year.

Ticket sales are reported to be up 20% on 2007,

The Fringe runs until August 31.