The Royal Family

[pottert]

Everybody agrees that the royal family are a drain on the economy but how much do they generate the country through tourism.
If we ditch the royals would we feel the benifit of pounds in our pocket.

I believe the royal family make Britain the envy of the world.

 

[Bulldog]

Everybody agrees that the royal family are a drain on the economy but how much do they generate the country through tourism.
If we ditch the royals would we feel the benifit of pounds in our pocket.

I believe the royal family make Britain the envy of the world.

I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I gave some moments ago.

 

[Rugrat]

Tourism revenue is not only irrelevant to a debate about our constitution, the suggestion that the monarchy promotes tourism is also untrue. There is not a single shred of evidence to back this up. Of the top 20 tourist attractions in the UK only one royal residence makes it: Windsor Castle at number 17 (beaten comfortably by Windsor Legoland, in at number 7). Royal residences account for less than 1% of total tourist revenue. Indeed, the success of the Tower of London (number 6 in the list) suggests that tourism would benefit if Buckingham Palace and Windsor castle were vacated by the Windsor family.
The British tourist industry is successful and robust - castles and palaces would remain a part of our heritage regardless of whether or not we have a monarchy (look at Versaille). Other attractions, such as the London Eye, Trafalgar Square, the west end, Bath, Stonehenge, Britain's beautiful countryside and so on, will continue to attract tourists in the same numbers as they do today. The government body responsible for tourism, Visit Britain, hasn't even collated statistics on the monarchy as an attraction, which shows it is not a key factor in the promotion of the UK as a tourist destination.

The tourism argument has been dreamt up to distract people from the real issues. There is no evidence that the monarchy is good for tourism, in fact, there are good reasons why the opposite might be true. Imagine the potential for Buckingham Palace if it was fully opened up to tourists all year round, where visitors can explore every room and courtyard and see the grounds and the magnificent art collection. And of course popular ceremonies such as the changing of the guard will continue.

Don't entirely agree with that, it's not just about a building but all the fringe and ceremonial stuff and like. I lived in the US for 6 years and the amount of airtime to those sorts of things and just general "Royal stuff" is enormous and certainly supported the desire for vast numbers of Yanks to visit our shores. True it's only one small element and I'm not suggesting that tourism hinges on it but to say it hasn't any influence is off the mark imo.

But I'm not a wedded Royalist and don't have deep held views and certainly won't argue about it given I'm pretty ambivalent about the whole thing.

 

[Aseros]

Everybody agrees that the royal family are a drain on the economy but how much do they generate the country through tourism.
If we ditch the royals would we feel the benifit of pounds in our pocket.

I believe the royal family make Britain the envy of the world.

I've sold almost £7,000 of Jubilee merchandise in the past two weeks throughout the world. Without the Queen I wouldn't be able to do this! Government gets a 20% cut which is around £1400. I believe the royal family costs us around £2.00 for each person. Therefore I have payed for 700 x the amount of that back into the economy.

 

[Bulldog]

Don't entirely agree with that, it's not just about a building but all the fringe and ceremonial stuff and like. I lived in the US for 6 years and the amount of airtime to those sorts of things and just general "Royal stuff" is enormous and certainly supported the desire for vast numbers of Yanks to visit our shores. True it's only one small element and I'm not suggesting that tourism hinges on it but to say it hasn't any influence is off the mark imo.

But I'm not a wedded Royalist and don't have deep held views and certainly won't argue about it given I'm pretty ambivalent about the whole thing.

There is no reason to discontinue either Changing the Guard or Trooping the Colour or any other ceremonial activity. These traditions belong to Britain, not to the Windsor family. We are free to decide for ourselves which traditions will stay and which will go. The Beefeaters at the Tower of London are a good example of a tradition which has continued largely because the people and tourists want it to.

 

[glasfryn]

as I said on another thread
the Russians got it right