[caption id="attachment_68801" align="alignright" width="600" caption="Queen Elizabeth delivering her Dublin Castle speech."]
Tourism in Ireland is set to receive a boost from the most unlikely of sources - Queen Elizabeth's Christmas Day speech.
The queen's annual address, which reaches huge numbers of people across the globe, is expected to refer to her successful visit to Ireland earlier this year and will include footage of a number of the sites and landmarks included in her four-day trip.
The broadcast will likely receive even higher viewing figures than normal thanks to a massive upswing in interest in the monarchy over the past year.
It's been confirmed that the queen, who takes a central role in deciding the content of her message, will use the opportunity to reflect on the warm reception she received in Ireland and her schedule, which included visits to Dublin, Kildare, Tipperary and Cork.
That means tourist sites, such as the Rock Of Cashel in Tipperary and Cork's English Market, which have already received a huge lift in visitor numbers, can expect another welcome boost when footage of the royal couple's visits there is screened to millions once again.
It has been well documented that the queen has spoken at length in private of her fond memories of her visit to the country. In a letter to the lord mayor of Cork she described her visit to the city, where she broke with royal protocol and shook hands with the public after receiving an unexpectedly rousing reception, as "deeply moving."
According to other reports, she has even privately described the visit - the first by a British monarch in 100 years - as the highlight of her reign.
