Royal Insight Forum

QuoteThe Queen's decision to stay elsewhere on her Balmoral estate to let tourists wander her castle home has paid off.  Visitor numbers have increased five per cent this summer - edging past 70,000, the best for five years and nearly a record for the Royal retreat.

Some 40 per cent of the tourists came from overseas, underlining the foreign attraction of the British Monarchy.

Because of a timetable clash this year, the Monarch was in Scotland earlier than usual for the Commonwealth Games, meaning tourists were still wandering around her summer residence before it closed at the end of July.

More: Number of visitors to Balmoral reaches five-year high after Queen moves out | Daily Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2781966/Number-visitors-Balmoral-reaches-five-year-high-Queen-moves-helping-pay-HALF-attraction-s-3m-running-cost.html)