Wedding a holiday event - for the Irish

ENGLISH TOURISM:ENGLISH TOURISM chiefs say they are hoping to attract large numbers of Irish visitors to next year's royal wedding.

Although a date has yet to be set for the wedding of Prince William to his fiance Kate Middleton, the event is expected to provide a huge boost to tourism in Britain.

Irish tourists are likely to figure prominently in the plans of our neighbour’s tourist body, Visit England, according to its chief executive James Berresford.

“We look forward to welcoming visitors from around the world, and since Ireland is our closest neighbour, we are keen to encourage as many Irish visitors as possible to come across the water and join in the celebrations,” he said.

Irish people make 2.1 million visits to Britain each year, and their annual spend of almost €750 million makes us the UK’s fourth largest market after France, the US and Germany.

Mr Berresford described the royal engagement as “wonderful news not just for the country, but also for our tourism industry”.

While his description of the impending nuptials as “the wedding of the decade – if not the century” might not find approval with everyone on this side of the Irish Sea, this week’s news has received extensive coverage in Ireland, with some newspapers devoting multi-page supplements to the announcement.

With the London Olympics and Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee following in 2012, the British tourism industry believes it has a tremendous opportunity to attract extra overseas visitors, he added.

“The wedding next year will mean that once again the eyes of the world will be turned to our nation. We will have a wonderful opportunity to showcase all that is best about the country — its heritage and its history and what being English is all about,” Mr Berresford enthused.

Monarchy-related tourism already generates an estimated €587 million in revenue for the British tourism industry, and the sector is optimistic that this figure can be greatly boosted as a result of events planned over the next two years.

Currently, the sector is in the doldrums, though the decline in visitor numbers is smaller than in Ireland.

Latest figures show the number of visits to the UK from overseas fell 2 per cent last year, while spending was down 1 per cent.