Britain's ailing economy wins royal boost

Britons will throng pubs, buy gifts and host parties thanks to the royal wedding, and the tourism sector is set to gain, but the extra spending is unlikely to reignite Britain's economy, analysts warn.
Retail analysts estimate up to £620 million (707 million euros, $1.0 billion) may be spent in Britain as a direct result of Prince William's marriage to girlfriend Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey on April 29.
Britons are snapping up wedding memorabilia ahead of Britain's biggest royal wedding since 1981, when William's mother Diana married heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles.
When William ties the knot with Middleton, pubs across the nation are expected to be bustling with customers from home and abroad feasting on food and drink as they watch the events unfold on television.
Britain's tourism industry may also win a longer-lasting benefit, as the wedding advertises London to the world via millions of TV sets around the globe.
Some analysts caution that the boost to spending will be both modest and temporary and hardly likely to bring about a change of fortune for Britain's flagging economy, which shrank 0.5 percent in the final quarter of 2010.
And the benefits of wedding-related spending will be offset by the lost production due to the extra public holiday granted by the government for the wedding day.
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at research group IHS Global Insight, said the wedding may provide "some modest feel good factor but it will likely prove a fleeting impact.
"There may also be a modest boost in terms of sales of wedding-related souvenirs and food and alcohol for street parties," he told AFP.
"However, there will be a hit to the economy from the fact that it is an extra day's public holiday.