Luxury floating hotel set for Edinburgh
A 23-bedroom luxury, floating hotel planned for the port of Leith in Edinburgh will help secure the long-term future of the former royal yacht Britannia.
Plans have been lodged today with the City of Edinburgh Council for the £3.5m conversion of the former Northern Lighthouse Board tender MV Fingal into what is being described as a "boatique".
MV Fingal was bought in 2014 by the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust, the owner of Britannia, the Queen's former floating residence which is today is moored at the Ocean Terminal, Leith, and used as a visitor attraction and for events.
Due to open in 2018, the floating hotel will incorporate bedroom suites, cabins with private balconies, duplex apartments, and a presidential suite. The new business will provide 30 jobs, adding to the 170 at Britannia.
The hotel will generate an additional income stream for the trust, which will help secure the long term-future of Britannia, which attracted 350,000 visitors last year and has been named Scotland's Best Attraction for the past 11 years running by VisitScotland.
Bob Downie, Britannia's chief executive and winner of the 2005 Catey Award for Leisure and Tourism, said: "Having excelled in the visitor attraction market for nearly 20 years, we are very much looking forward to the challenges of operating in the luxury hotel market and the benefits it will generate for Britannia over the years to come."
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