Summer opening numbers up
The Royal Collection will be very pleased with the response to this year’s summer opening of Buckingham Palace. It has been reported that the visitor numbers this year have increased 8% from last year, despite a fall in foreign tourists to Britain of 5%.
If the numbers continue at this rate, it would result in around 390,000 visitors, compared to 360,000 last year. However this is still below the 400,000 visitors achieved in 2006, the year of the Queen’s 80th birthday.
It is also very good news for those of us concerned with the condition of the royal palaces, as the money the Royal Collection earns goes into maintaining the substantial contents of the palaces. They are currently repaying a loan taken out for the building of the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace and Holyrood House and hopefully once this is repaid they can use any additional income to help repair the palaces. It is estimated the cost of repairs and refurnishing at the royal properties will amount to £32 million pounds by 2015.
For more details: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/queen-raking-in-the-moolah-as-tourists-rain-down-on-buckingham-palace_10088757.html
Filed under: Buckingham Palace