Royal attractions generate £500m from overseas visitors

Britain’s monarchy-related attractions are generating more than £500 million a year in overseas tourist spending, it was revealed yesterday.

Culture and heritage generally, including theatres, galleries and pubs, helped raise £4.6 billion in spending by foreign residents last year, a report from VisitBritain showed.

Of the 30 million overseas visitors who came to Britain last year, 5.8 million visited a castle, five million a historic house and 6.4 million a religious monument such as a cathedral.

The Tower of London was the top royal attraction for international visitors in 2009 with just under 2.4 million visitors – up 11 per cent on 2008.

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, south London, was second with 2.37 million, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London placing third with 2.27 million visitors.

Buckingham Palace welcomed 402,000 visitors last year – a two per cent rise on the 2008 figure, while Windsor Castle visits rose 6.3 per cent to 987,000.

In a VisitBritain-commissioned survey of 25,000 potential foreign visitors to Britain, nearly three-quarters said they would be likely to visit a castle or stately home and 60 per cent said they would be likely to seek out places associated with the Royal Family or British monarchy. Asked to choose which of 15 postcards they would send home to indicate they were in Britain, the first choice was a card showing a red double-decker bus.

The third most-picked card was a picture of the Queen.

VisitBritain chief executive officer Sandie Dawe said: “This fascinating research shows Britain’s monarchic heritage draws foreign tourists to just about every corner of the country from Scotland to Cornwall.

“The Queen celebrates her diamond jubilee in 2012, a feat last accomplished back in 1897 by Queen Victoria. This report suggests that that year she is going to generate a bonanza for British tourism.”