Will the royal wedding give a boost to the British economy?
Since most British firms have nominated Friday as a national holiday, certain businesses — pubs, flag-makers, sun lotion manufacturers — look set to profit.
But that’s likely to be at the expense of other firms, say analysts.
Opinion is split on whether the supposed “feel-good” factor from the holiday could be just the jolt a flagging economy requires or whether it merely represents a lost day’s productivity.
Some organizations warn the wedding is the last thing Britain needs.
“April is a complete write-off,” one company director moans.
High up in the sourpuss league is the CBI, a business lobby group.
It calculated that bank holidays cost the British economy $9.4 billion each time.
The TUC, the workers’ union, has done research of its own, claiming it’s actually a much more affordable $1.5 billion.
Firmly on the side of the optimists is David Buik, the sage at brokers BGC Partners.
He reckons people will loosen their purse strings and this could have a rolling effect into the
summer.
Tourism spending could be significant. Some will come in from overseas, some will be Britons spending money in London they might otherwise have spent elsewhere.
What about the costs of the wedding itself?
Experts estimate it to be a $15.7-million affair — a cost to the public purse.
Police costs are hard to estimate, but a guide might be the Pope’s visit — $6.2 million.
These figures assume gangs of anti-royalists don’t smash up the capital in anarchic rage.
Don’t say it couldn’t happen.
