The government has urged local authorities to waive the price of road closure charges for people planning to organise street festivities ahead of the royal wedding.

 

Areas like the London borough of Bromley have already complied with the government directive, and other local councils are set to follow suit. The move is the latest initiative designed to increase participation in the 19 th May event, alongside extensions to pub opening hours and having the wedding on a Saturday.

 

This is all expected to invigorate the national spirit, as well as further add to the estimated royal-wedding economic boost. Consulting firm Brand Finance Projects has predicted an inflow of more than £1 billion for the British economy in 2018 from the festivities. Of this £250 million is estimated to come from partying, and £150 million from the ‘Meghan effect’ or the ‘Markle Sparkle’. However, the greatest portion, some £300 million, is set to come from tourism into the country. Tracy Schaverien, the Royal Correspondent at HELLO! magazine explains: “There will people gathering in Windsor from all over the world. “I’ve been travelling with the royals over the last few months and meeting members of the public from various different countries, and often they say, ‘I’m flying over for the wedding’”. She reveals that many have told her their plans are to come to London, travel to Windsor that day, and then “stand out on the streets with flags and watch the procession go past”.

 

The royal-wedding- tourism-boost is a phenomenon confirmed by experts. Simon Curtis, Director of the Tourism Management Institute and lecturer at Westminster University believes that it is always “difficult to predict the impact of such events”.

 

However, the wedding “will still have a major impact on Windsor of course, and it will indeed have a positive economic impact on tourism in London in the coming years due to the global TV and media coverage and especially as it’s a wedding between a British royal and an American bride”.

 

He holds that there’s a lot to appreciate in the royal wedding, which tourism agency VisitBritain believes will further increase the £26.9 billion estimated to be made in 2018 from tourism: “I certainly do believe that the feel-good factor which these royal events engender are generally undervalued here in the UK”.