Not everyone in the United Kingdom is a royalist, but this country is celebrating this week Queen Elizabeth II becoming the longest-reigning monarch in our history. She’s now ruled this country—as of today—for 63 years, 220 days. She surpassed the former holder of that accolade, her great-grandmother Queen Victoria, of which we know from school (if it is the only thing we know about her) was “not amused.”
The hotel industry should be very amused by our current Queen, who is also the second longest-reigning living monarch after Thailand’s King Rama IX, who assumed the Asia country’s throne 69 years and 96 days ago.
And the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 most-visited tourist destinations? Drum roll, please. Yes, Bangkok and London, respectively, the capitals of those exact nations, according to Forbes.
Coincidence, perhaps?
There is much great and to be proud of in Great Britain, in the past and now, but the “Great” part of its name somehow feels odd in this day and age. It supposedly was “great” when the sun never set on its empire, but that was a long, long time ago. And it is not “great” because of its size, as this handy map from The Guardian newspaper shows quite clearly.
I am sure, however, that hotels would suffer if it was not for the monarchy and the pomp, circumstance, magnificence, castles, history and existence of the Royal Family, and especially Queen Elizabeth II, who has seen elected 11 Prime Ministers (Harold Wilson had two separate terms), 12 United States presidents (starting with Harry S. Truman), and 11 Soviet or Russian leaders.
London and United Kingdom hotel rooms are filled in the numbers they are because of the long history of the country that is inextricably entwined with the history of its Royal Family. The present Queen also has done tourism wonders by sailing a steady ship of decorum, service and common sense when other aspects of the Royal Family—since the newspapers ended their see-nothing, hear-nothing, write-nothing relationship with Buckingham Palace back in the 1970s or ‘80s—might have been receiving all the wrong type of headlines.
A ruined castle in, say, Staffordshire (let’s select Dudley Castle, which was built in 1070 and saw skirmishes during the English Civil War) or Dorset (here a choice could be magnificent Corfe Castle, which also saw trouble in that same war), both many miles away from London, oozes such royal history and provides a line—direct or meandering—to the institution of monarchy, which despite the families heading it having changed has largely been unbroken since 1066. Those castles are tourist draws (let’s face it, Arkansas and Saskatchewan do not have any) that fill hotel rooms.
Of course, the Royal Family spends a lot of taxpayers’ money, too, much of it emanating indirectly from those tourists, but they say you have to spend some to make some.
Some of that tourism income comes in directly, especially now that Buckingham Palace opens to the public for two months every summer. According to another U.K. newspaper, The Telegraph, “Royal family generate close to £500 million ($769 million) every year for British tourism.” That’s direct spend, not indirect, which this blog obviously argues is far, far higher than that.
I would gladly sit around a table to have a polite discussion on the pros and cons of the monarchy or proposals for its continued existence or abolition. But if I was an hotelier, I would kindly thank the host but decline the invitation.
Queen Elizabeth II, I am convinced, fills hotel rooms. She might not have ever talked about revenue per available room, roomnights, yield or net operating profit, but I truly believe she is responsible for much of the background scene that allows hotels here to take advantage of the favorable economic fundamentals enjoyed around much of the globe.
Email Terence Baker or find him on Twitter.
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