Edinburgh Zoo pandas help boost visitor numbers

Tian Tian and Yang Guang, pictured, were credited with helping to produce a bumper year for Scotlands wildlife attractions. Picture: Ian Rutherford

EDINBURGH’S giant pandas may not be showing much sign of interest in one another. But yesterday Tian Tian and Yang Guang were credited with helping to produce a bumper year for Scotland’s wildlife attractions.

The number of visitors at Edinburgh Zoo reached record levels in 2012 – up more than 50 per cent on the previous year.

The rise in footfall at the zoo, from 535,573 to 810,937, means it is now the second most visited paid-admission attraction in the country, after Edinburgh Castle.

The latest tourism figures for Scotland also showed the three biggest rises in visitor numbers at paid-for attractions last year were recorded by zoos and wildlife parks.

The largest increase in business was seen by the Five Sisters Zoo in West Lothian, which suffered a devastating fire earlier this month, where trade rocketed by more than 60 per cent to just under 100,000 people.

Highland Wildlife Park in Inverness-shire saw the third- largest increase in visitor numbers, up about 25 per cent from 97,516 to 121,382.

Chris West, chief executive officer at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which owns Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park, said numbers for the zoo hit “an all-time high” following the pandas’ much-publicised arrival at the end of 2011.

The “incredible” increase in visitors to the Highland Wildlife Park was largely due to “renewed interest in its 40th year and a large number of animal births” during 2012, he added.

Meanwhile, staff at the Five Sisters said its rising popularity was due to bears of a different kind. The privately run zoo in Polbeth rescued a trio of brown bears from a travelling circus last year after staff and volunteers raised £80,000 to pay for their specialist wooden enclosure.

A spokeswoman said: “All the donations came from individuals who have then come to see the bears. When you donate to save something in the wild you can’t go and see what your money has done, but here you can.

The annual statistics, from the Moffat Centre for Travel and Tourism Business Development at Glasgow Caledonian University, revealed that wildlife and animal attractions saw visitor numbers rise by 362,793 last year.

Museums netted the biggest combined rise in visitors, however, up by more than 500,000.

The most popular free attraction was the National Museum of Scotland with 1.9 million visits – up 29 per cent on 2011 following a major revamp.

Mike Cantlay, chairman of VisitScotland, said: “2012 was a challenging year for Scottish tourism, so I am delighted that, overall, our plethora of wonderful visitor attractions performed well, a true testament to the quality and variety of activities on offer.”