Malaysian walking trail opens up in Edinburgh

A WALKING trail funded by the Malaysian government is being opened today at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh (RBGE) in a bid to attract tourists from Scotland to south-east Asia.

The £8,000 Malaysian Glasshouse Trail is the first such tourist-oriented sponsored arrangement between the RBGE and an overseas government.

The Malaysian government is keen to promote eco-tourism in its preserved rainforest, such as the Danum Valley, visited by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge last month.

The trail, which includes a Malaysian market stall and species from the RBGE’s research glasshouses not previously seen on public display, is due to be officially opened by Dato’ Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen, Malaysia’s minister of tourism.

The initiative came about after Dr Peter Wilkie, tropical botanist, received a request last July to show the Malaysian tourism minister around the Garden in Edinburgh.

Dr Wilkie said: “She came along and was quite enthralled by it all.

“She said she was looking at new and innovative ways of getting people to visit Malaysia rather than just using standard advertisements.

“I was showing her the hibiscus, the national flower of Malaysia and remarked ‘such a shame we can’t grow tropical trees here, they’re so tall’.

“She bought into that starting point.”