Press Release
Bumper year in
2003 pushes Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew up the league!
Kew Gardens ranks high among UK visitor attractions
Images of Kew
and
Wakehurst Place >>>
incl high res versions
This area is password protected. For press access contact pr@kew.org)
For release: Thursday 19 February 2004
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, achieved a bumper year for attendance in 2003 with 1,079,424 visitors at Kew, and 389,396 visitors at Wakehurst Place in Sussex, Kew's country garden and home of the Millennium Seed Bank. This achievement won 5th place in the league of admission-paying visitor attractions compiled by ALVA, the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.
Among admission-paying attractions, Kew Gardens was remarkable for its 9% increase in visitor numbers over last year. Wakehurst Place achieved an even more impressive 20% increase. The general trend was for decreased visitor numbers in 2003.
2003 saw Kew's designation by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, and a long hot summer that included the popular 'Go Wild' Summer Festival. These factors combined to bring many visitors from the UK and overseas into the 132 hectares of green leafy space by the Thames.
Notes
ALVA released a list of top visitor attractions on 19 February, showing attendances at both admission-paying and admission-free attractions. The top ten admission-paying attractions, in order, were:
The Tower of London (-3.6% from 2002)
The Eden Project (-19%)
Legoland, Windsor (-4%)
Edinburgh Castle (+1%)
Kew Gardens (+9%)
Chester Zoo (+2.5%)
Canterbury Cathedral (optional charge) (-4.5%)
Westminster Abbey (optional charge) (-5%)
Roman Baths, Bath (-1%)
London Zoo (-8%)
The top ten free venues were: Blackpool Pleasure Beach, British Museum,
Tate Modern, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Victoria &
Albert Museum, National Maritime Museum, Tate Britain, Museum of Welsh
Life, Imperial War Museum.
For further Press information please contact:
|
Kew: Public Relations Tel: +44 (0)20 8332 5607/5619 |
Wakehurst Place: Public Relations Tel: +44 (0)1444 894018 |
