VisitScotland has revealed a number of plans it hopes will lure visitors to the country where Prince William first met Kate Middleton. They include using the tourism body’s budget for direct marketing purposes and producing live coverage of the Royal Wedding to be broadcast to Australia, Canada and the US.

However, it seems that the real PR coup in terms of promoting Scotland as the place where the royal romance blossomed has come from a group of local businesses in St Andrews, the university town on the east coast, where the couple first met. Four months ago, a group met in the burgh hall to try and come up with ideas for a wedding gift. They initially thought of a painting of the town.

With no budget to speak of the gathering decided that a Royal Wedding Breakfast might be a good way to celebrate the nuptials. The idea has taken off in a way which has bemused its organisers. A ballot for the free event will provide 2,000 tickets for lucky winners, and the celebrations are to be broadcast to in excess of two billion people around the world.

Organiser Patrick Laughlin said there had never been a request for help in organising the event from external agencies, there was never much of a budget and suddenly it’s the largest Royal Wedding tourist event in Scotland. The estimated £30,000 costs have been met by local businesses and media organisations planning to broadcast the event.

The value of the shoe-string operation to the Scottish tourism industry is likely to be beyond calculation.