All eyes are on London this week for the wedding of William & Kate. Like everyone else, we at bizologie are excited to see the dress and all the pomp and circumstance. But, as usual, we've got our business socks on and are wondering things like: How will this impact London's economy? How many tourists and how much money will they spend? Here are some economic predictions about the Royal Wedding:
- According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the wedding will bring in about £107 million or around $178 million for the city of London.
- Over two-thirds of visitors will go shopping while they are there and well over half intend to visit bars, clubs and restaurants. 58% say they will visit tourist attractions while they are in London, with 36% of visitors budgeting to spend between £75 and £99 per person per day on tourist attractions.
- According to Visit London, the official tourism agency, over 1 million people are expected to visit London for the wedding. If everyone attends the procession, that's 400,000 more than lined the parade route for Charles & Diana's wedding in 1981.
- Some economists believe the wedding will actually cost the UK economy upwards of $50 billion--$35 million alone spent on extra policing and overtime for the city. In addition, many UK citizens will take not just the day off for the wedding but several--the wedding comes between two long holiday weekends in England which allows many workers to receive 11 days off while only claiming 3 vacation days.
Unfortunately, we at bizologie can't take 11 days off to celebrate. However, we've got our TiVos fired up and are anxiously awaiting the big day. We're hoping to get our hands on some of the crazy souvenirs available. Here are some of our favorites:
- Will & Kate commemorative refrigerator from GE. Yes, yes I would put this in my kitchen.
- Papa John's Royal Wedding Pizza.
Can't wait until the big day? Here's a little preview of what you can expect to see inside Westminster Abbey this Friday: