THE Royal Yacht Britannia has announced record visitor figures for the calendar year 2016, up more than 12 per cent on the previous year’s best.
The news came on the day that campaigners for a new royal yacht finally seem to have accepted that Britannia will not be brought back into service.
Instead the ship that was the home away from home for the royal family for more than 40 years will stay in her berth at Leith where, for the 11th year running, she has been named Scotland’s best visitor attraction by the national tourism agency VisitScotland.
Britannia, which is now owned by a charitable trust, reported its most successful year since opening to the public 18 years ago. Her Majesty’s Yacht Britannia, as she is properly known, ended 2016 with a grand total of 348,272 visitors, which represents 12.7 per cent growth on the previous year.
Last year continued what has been a period of steady growth at Britannia in recent years, resulting in a massive increase in visitor figures of 41.7 per cent since 2010.
The campaign to get Britannia back into service last year saw the House of Commons debate the possibility, with campaigners now focusing on a new yacht that would also be a showcase for the UK post-Brexit.
The Daily Telegraph had been the loudest press advocate for Britannia to be recommissioned but yesterday gave space to Michael Lake, Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society to call for a new yacht.
“In years gone by the United Kingdom employed a floating ambassador in the form of HMY Britannia,”
he wrote.
“In its 44 years of service the yacht was a majestic symbol of national esteem and an iconic, photogenic focus for what would now be described as soft power.
“The Britannia will always be connected with images of the Royal Family and of Her Majesty in particular, but to identify the yacht as some sort of floating palace of convenience completely misses the point.
“The passages of the Britannia and the ports she visited resulted in goodwill, business opportunities, influence and a reminder of the United Kingdom as a partner of choice.”
Rolls-Royce also entered the story, telling the newspaper that it was “well-placed” to provide the engines for a new yacht.
A company spokesman said: “Rolls-Royce is well-placed to assist if the Government decides that a new version of HMY Britannia is required to support the country’s trade and diplomatic efforts overseas.
“If the decision is taken that Britain needs such a vessel, we would be ideally placed to help make it a ship worthy of the name Britannia.”
No one working at Britannia has ever commented on the campaign but The National revealed some months ago that staff had been worried about it. Those fears can now be put aside for ever.
Commenting on the new visitor record, Britannia’s chief executive Bob Downie said: “From day one, it has been our mission to make Britannia a destination of first choice for a high quality, value for money and memorable experience, delivered by skilled and passionate people, so to produce record visitor numbers 18 years after first opening is amazing.”
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