The Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations resulted in a bumper June for the Royal yacht Britannia.

More than 35,000 visitors stepped on board the ship at its Leith berth in Edinburgh.

The number doubled that of June 2001.

Britannia's managers said they hoped the "unprecedented" level of interest would continue for the rest of the year.

The surge in interest could not have come at a better time for the attraction, which was hit by a drop in numbers last year during the foot-and-mouth epidemic, they said.

The record figures also came at the same time as a survey showed a 21% increase in the number of visitors to Britannia who rated the attraction as "very good".

'Fitting reward'

The survey, by Lynn Jones research, also showed that 85% of tourists thought the vessel to be "very good value for money".

Britannia's head of marketing Julia Stephenson said: "We are absolutely delighted that all of the improvements that we have made have proved such a big hit with our visitors.

"This level of customer satisfaction is a fitting reward for all the hard work."

Britannia last year became only the third visitor attraction in Edinburgh to gain the coveted five-star grading from the Scottish Tourist Board.

Million milestone

The vessel, which recently moved to the Scottish Capital's state-of-the-art Ocean Terminal in Leith, attracts 275,000 UK and overseas visitors every year.

It has been berthed in Edinburgh since being decommissioned in 1998.

In February, the one millionth visitor was welcomed on board, two years ahead of schedule.