The Eden Project’s 25th‑anniversary impact report has confirmed what many in Cornwall and the wider South West have long felt: Eden is not just an iconic visitor attraction, but has become part of the bedrock across the region’s economic and social life. A sanctuary for both people and plants, education held outdoors, research and learning for an emerging environmental awareness, all sparked from a desolate clay pit, and as the report shows, now a global garden.
At the heart of this landmark report sits the economic analysis undertaken by Counterculture, which has helped quantify Eden’s transformational effect and given it the robust evidence base now making headlines across national and regional media. Our team of consultants, led by senior partners Jo Wright and Stephen Escritt, looked at 25 years of regional figures – how much Eden itself had spent on infrastructure and operations, as well as how many people had visited, what they spent and, crucially, the extent to which Eden was a factor in them choosing to visit the region. Our assumptions were reasonable – Eden is not the sole reason to visit the stunning county of Cornwall – but based on visitor surveys it was estimated that around three-fifths of the spend would not have occurred without Eden’s presence.
The figures are astonishing:
- 25 million visitors to Eden
- £8.4 billion total spend from visitors
- £6.8 billion economic impact to the SW region
- £632 million spent directly by Eden with suppliers, 56% locally, with £200m to Cornwall businesses alone
- Less than 2% of operating expenditure has gone outside the UK.
- 690 jobs created, many of these sustained for 25 years
- Eden has directly employed over 430 FTE staff on average – with 91% of staff living in Cornwall.
Since opening in 2001, at a cost of around £140m, the generation of more than £6.8 billion in total economic impact demonstrates the long-term value of investing in ambitious, nature-led regeneration projects. Around 80% of the 25million visitors travelled from outside the county, bringing fresh faces and new spend into local businesses and communities rather than simply displacing existing activity.
Eden’s economic story is also one of jobs, supporting an average of 700 jobs per year, both working directly on site and through its extensive local supply chains. The £8.4 billion of visitor expenditure has fed into hotels, campsites, hospitality, transport, creatives and countless small enterprises. This sits alongside a growing educational legacy, with over a million young people given an opportunity to learn and engage with nature in a living classroom for climate, environment and plants based-learning.
Crucially, this anniversary moment and report shines a light on Eden’s role as one of the most successful legacies of Millennium Commission funding, translating an initial £56million of lottery investment into billions of pounds for the South West. The evidence presented in the report serves and strengthens future cases for similar initiatives and capital projects in disadvantaged regions, both in the UK and internationally.
Our contribution to Eden’s story
The Counterculture team, led by Jo Wright and Stephen Escritt, analysed a variety of datasets, including employment and visitor records, staff, supplier and visitor data, making adjustments, in order to produce the economic impact section. The eye-watering figures we found led to headlines across multiple media outlets, amplifying Eden’s legacy.
Counterculture has worked with the Eden Project before, on cultural change and professional development, in order to help their vision-led long-term goals and ambitions. It has been a joy having the Eden project as a much-valued client, and we look forward to continuing to help articulate their vision and values in a narrative from attraction to core economic infrastructure.