Royal Wedding update: Official programme, including Order of Service, available online today.

The Official Programme for the wedding of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton is now available for the public to download for free.

The Official Programme includes the full Order of Service (as used by guests in Westminster Abbey), a personal message of thanks from Prince William and Miss Middleton, and a photo of the Couple taken by photographer Mario Testino at the time of the Couple’s engagement.

The Official Programme features Prince William’s recently updated Coat of Arms on the front cover and Catherine Middleton’s new Coat of Arms on the back cover.

The Order of Service includes full details about the processions, music, hymns, prayers and readings. The Wedding Service follows the Book of Common Prayer (Alternative Services: Series One). There will be one Lesson during the service, which the Couple have asked James Middleton to read.

The Official Programme will also be available for free electronically in two formats: as a page-turning Ceros PDF (using Flash) and an iBook compatible with Apple products, which can be downloaded from the Apple iBookstore.

On the wedding day, 150,000 copies of the programme will be sold by 60 Explorer Scouts and 80 Cadets (supervised by adults) for £2 per copy at locations in Green Park, Hyde Park, St James’s Park and Trafalgar Square. Profits from the sale of the Official Programme will go to benefit The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry.

Palm Hotel

UK Tourism at the Heart Of Economic Recovery

The UK government has finally revealed its much-anticipated tourism strategy to mixed reaction from the industry.

In a landmark speech last year, David Cameron placed tourism at the heart of the UK’s economic recovery and urged the industry to put aside a substantial marketing fund.The UK hospitality scene kept its side of the bargain … but the tourism strategy unveiled last week by Tourism Minister John Penrose has failed to hit the mark.

The strategy, which looks to exploit the economic opportunities presented by the Royal Wedding, Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics, builds on the marketing plan, launched in January, which aims to generate four million extra overseas visitors over the next four years. The increase in overseas visitors would bring an extra £2 billion worth of visitor spend and help to create 50,000 new jobs across the country over that period, securing tourism’s place as one ofBritain’s biggest industries.

Key elements in the policy paper include plans to increase visitor numbers by:

• Consulting on whether to lengthen the tourism season by moving the first Bank Holiday in May to create either a new St George’s Day holiday in England (St David’s Day in Wales), or a Trafalgar Day bank holiday in the autumn half term
• Helping to improve staff skills in the sector through extra apprenticeships and courses
• Making tourist visas simpler, faster and more convenient to get
• Repairing market failure by modifying the existing, long-established Tourist Boards to become smaller, highly focused, industry-led partnerships between tourism firms and government
• Broadening our tourism offer by creating alternative destinations which match London, the UK’s biggest and most successful single tourism destination to capture the spare tourism capacity andpotential of other parts of Britain as well

Royal Wedding Holiday Frenzy

The royal wedding holiday frenzy has already begun, with lastminute.com reporting short break searches up by 13% from abroad for that weekend and Travelzoo predicting sharp rises in regional flight prices over the double bank holiday period.Whether you want to join the London throngs, get out of the city or escape Britain altogether, its time to start the booking process.

Click Here To book your London Hotel for the extra long bank Holiday Weekend

Royal Wedding Date Set for April; London Hotels gear up for Two Bank Holidays

It has been confirmed that we will be having an extra Bank Holiday next year with the announcement of the wedding date for Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29 – a Bank Holiday Friday – at Westminster Abbey in London.

Monday, May 2, will be a national holiday as part of the country’s celebration of the couple’s nuptials.

Buckingham Palace announced that the the Royal Family and the Middletons would cover the costs of the wedding, reception and honeymoon, apart from security, so why not take a long weekend and book your London Hotel now, as you are not going to have to pay for anything else?