Is this really the best tourist attraction in the world?

Forget the Eiffel Tower, ignore the Empire State Building, skip the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona - the number one tourist attraction in the world could be much closer to home.

According to travel review site TripAdvisor, the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh is the 'Best of the Best Things to Do' in the attraction category of its annual awards.

Britannia, which was built in Clydebank and launched in 1953, was used by the late Queen Elizabeth and the Royal family for 44 years before it was decommissioned in 1997 and turned into a tourist attraction docked at Leith.

It attracts thousands of tourists from around the world every year, many of whom have already checked out the city's most famous attractions.

"They are coming for the castle and staying for the boat," says Scott Shaw, a tour guide in Edinburgh, who thinks it deserves its number one position..

He says one of the reasons for its success is the staff who work there.

"It goes without saying that they are excellent," Shaw says.

"They take a pride in their job.

"I never have a worry when I leave my guests to explore the Royal Yacht Britannia because I'm leaving them in good hands."

Frank Bruyère, the chief executive of the attraction, agrees that a positive customer experience is vital to its success.

"Five-star for us is the goal," he says. "Four-star is not quite where we want to be."

He says people will always be more inclined to leave a negative comment because they think that is the way to fix things but he is grateful that the Britannia experience has garnered so many great reviews.

"The fact that the volume of people are actually taking the time to provide a very positive review for us is magical," Bruyère says.

So what do you get for your £25?

Visitors can access the yacht through a visitor centre in the Ocean Terminal shopping centre.

From there they can chose an audio guide in one of 42 different languages before navigating the five decks of the yacht, which include the Royal apartments, the State dining room and the State drawing room.

Some areas of the yacht are not safe for the public to view so a virtual reality experience has been developed to show even more of the behind the scenes on the yacht.

Britannia was built and launched in the John Brown & Company shipyard in Clydebank and launched in 1953,

It was used for 968 state visits and welcomed many world leaders, dignitaries and celebrities such as Winston Churchill, President Eisenhower and Frank Sinatra.

While in service the ship covered over one million nautical miles and had 220 dedicated crew members.

The ship was not only used by the Royal Family for business but it was also used for family holidays.

Every year, for two weeks, Britannia would go around the Hebrides allowing the family to escape their duties and have a holiday.

Bruyère says: "There is a famous quote where the Queen said that this was the only place where she could really relax.

"Away from everybody, they had the opportunity to be human, the opportunity to be a mother, grandparents, and that, to me, is the touching part."

On Wednesday, among the visitors to the "world's top attraction" were Alim and Roma Malik from India,

Roma says she thinks the ship deserves its new accolade.

She says she liked it because she "got to know about the way the rich and the Queen were living".

"It was my first experience of seeing the way those people lived, the facilities given to them, the royal treatment they received," she says.

"I think it was amazing."

Her husband Alim doesn't fully agree that the yacht ranked number one in the world.

"I've been to lots of famous landmarks like the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower and I think they're better but they are completely different," he says.

"They are all judged differently."

Dominique and Thomas Tempesta were visiting the Royal yacht from France as part of their road trip across Scotland.

Dominique says she enjoyed the attraction.

"There was a lot of information about the ship, the Queen's history and the people who worked on the boat," she says.

However, she was not prepared to concede that it was better than the Eiffel Tower in her home country.

"It's not the same," she says.

"There is a story here with historic events and it is about the Royal family so it's very different."

Her husband Thomas added: 'It's a part of history, it's a part of the story of the Royal family and helps share it across the world."

But not everybody was so positive.

Christibe Coubluq, also from France, went to the Ocean Terminal attraction but did not go on board.

"I wanted to go but it was too expensive," she said.

She was also critical about where the boat is sited.

"I didn't think the entrance would be through a shopping mall," she said.

"I expected it to be from some sort of quay."

Tripadvisor does not reveal the exact method it uses to decide on its top attraction, saying that it relies on the quality and quantity of reviews as well as an editorial process.

Whatever the secret algorithm, it seems to working for Royal yacht, which has been named its top UK tourist attraction four times in the past 12 years.

It is not the only Scottish tourist attraction to feature to high up the list.

The Real Mary King's Close, also in Edinburgh, was sixth on the list.