Bloomberg is reporting that the Federation of Small Businesses calculates the extra public holiday to mark the wedding of Prince William and Kate Mildeton in London on April 29 may cost the economy as much $9.8 billion. In that same report, Bloomberg says that the total is almost 10 times the $1 billion that Verdict Research estimates that sales of wedding memorabilia could add to the economy. British Retail Consortium Director-General Stephen Robertson told Bloomberg, even though the wedding will boost retail sales for this month, the event "won't change the fundamentally weak conditions likely to undermine consumer confidence for some time yet,"
According to the Nationwide Building Society, consumer confidence in the U.K. increased last month though the reading in February was the lowest since it began compiling the index in 2004.
The royal extravaganza is expected to boost the UK economy coffers over the coming months by up to £2 billion with an influx of tourists. Subtract the costs of staging the wedding and it represents the boost needed for the economy.
However, it should be factored in that the lost output in the economy due to the public holiday may have had a greater cost.
Read this article from The Guardian
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