How visits to Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh are worth £10.6 million annually

An impact assessment said the gardens in Edinburgh, Galloway, Argyll and the Borders are visited by more than one million people a year on average. Simon Milne, regius keeper at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, said the gardens were a “powerhouse” of research, conservation and engagement.

A report by the consultancy Glic said RGBE “conserves one of the world’s richest botanical collections across four gardens in Scotland: Edinburgh, Benmore, Dawyck and Logan”.

It said: “The gardens themselves are visited by over one million people annually (excluding Covid-affected years) with an average of c800,000 people per year visiting across the study period, who have come to the sites to explore RBGE’s collection and exhibition of plants, heritage and art.

“Annually, garden visits contribute c£10.6m to the UK economy and have resultant social impacts for visitors in the fields of health and wellbeing, enrichment learning and cultural preservation.”

The study looked at the five-year period from 2018/19 to 2022/23 and marked the first time a review of the gardens’ social and environmental impacts has been undertaken.

RBGE is largely funded by the Scottish Government, and Glic calculated its benefit to the economy at £4.38 for every £1 spent.

Mr Milne told The Scotsman: “Scotland is and should be very proud of having this extraordinary world-leading botanic garden, at a time when 40 per cent of all known plant species are threatened with extinction, yet all known life depends on plants.

“There are the immediate benefits, which are highlighted in the report and articulated well. But for me it’s the longer term, the broader aspects of future planetary health and the health of society.”

He said most medicines were derived from plants and most of the world’s population relied on plants.

“The potential that plants hold for the future is vast, particularly when you’re looking at post-oil and trying to feed the world, trying to keep the world healthy,” he said.

“So, it’s that broader, global as well as national view that is so important. That’s why it’s worth getting out of bed every morning, coming to work and thinking we are doing good for the world with an amazingly talented and passionate team here in Scotland of many nationalities, together with our collaborators in about 40 counties around the world.”

RBGE was founded in 1670 to grow medicinal plants, and its living collection now consists of 13,600 species from more than 160 countries. Meanwhile, its herbarium comprises about three million preserved plant specimens, representing around two thirds of the world’s known plant species and spanning three centuries, with the oldest specimen collected in 1697.

The organisation has a team of around 80 scientists and 30 international PhD students collaborating across 137 countries.

The study notes: “The breadth of work undertaken by RBGE makes it a globally significant institution with activities and impacts that span science and horticulture, tourism, education, community engagement and arts.”

It said the work of RBGE “is potentially more vital now than at any time in its history”.