Royal Wedding History: William and Kate’s Marriage to Boost Economy

Royal wedding history could be made with the upcoming wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton next year, by providing a previously-unseen boost to the U.K.’s tourism sector.
Royal Wedding History: William and Kate’s Marriage to Boost Economy
11/17/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/royal_wedding_history_106930185.jpg" alt="Royal Wedding history: Workers at Aynsley China start producing commemorative plates, cups and mugs to mark the engagement between Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton on November 17, 2010 in Stoke On Trent, United Kingdom. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)" title="Royal Wedding history: Workers at Aynsley China start producing commemorative plates, cups and mugs to mark the engagement between Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton on November 17, 2010 in Stoke On Trent, United Kingdom. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1812041"/></a>
Royal Wedding history: Workers at Aynsley China start producing commemorative plates, cups and mugs to mark the engagement between Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton on November 17, 2010 in Stoke On Trent, United Kingdom. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
With the announcement of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s engagement underfoot, U.K. vendors, businesses, and BBC are eagerly anticipating the upcoming few months before the two tie the knot.

Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding was a huge event in 1981, accompanied by a national holiday, a surge in tourism, and other bonuses.

A flood of memorabilia commemorating the William and Kate’s wedding has already been unveiled in the U.K., according to the Daily Mail, including as much William and Kate commemorative plates, cups, T-shirts, and rings as anyone could want.

When Charles and Diana got married nearly 30 years ago, the same thing happened. A range of items were produced from cookie tins to painted eggs to special issue coins.

The BBC is also set to cash in on the royal wedding. According to the Sidney Morning Herald, “There is no doubt the wedding will be enjoyed by one of the biggest audiences in history,” a spokesperson from BBC said.

Probably most importantly, the U.K. tourism sector should see a surge. The U.K. Press Association reported that Tom Bradby, a broadcaster who interviewed William after the announcement, said the wedding will boost tourism to the U.K.

“The costs, if we split it up amongst us, will be so infinitesimally small and the impact on brand Britain and just the impact from say tourism (will be big),” he said, according to the Press Association, adding that also on the horizon in 2012 to help Britain tourism are the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.