City-region could be big winner in Ashes Test
The forthcoming Ashes Test could generate anything between £85 million and £116 million for the city-region’s economy according to Professor Brian Morgan of UWIC’s Cardiff School of Management.
Commenting Professor Morgan said, “Cardiff will shortly be hosting the first Ashes Test to be held outside England and Australia in over one hundred years. If successful, it could be a springboard for attracting further high profile events to the city and provide a significant boost to the capital’s tourism industry.”
He added, “In 1999, the year that Cardiff hosted the Rugby World Cup, the city welcomed an additional 1.24 million visitors from the previous year – an increase of 13.4%. It is estimated that hosting Category A cricket Test matches involving teams such as England, Australia and India could result in an 8% increase in visitor numbers graduated over a four year period. This would be in addition to a medium term annual increase of 1.23%. Depending on day visitor and overnight visitor spending, the value to the economy is estimated to be between £85 million and £116 million.
Commenting further, Professor Morgan said, “Categories A Test matches such as the Ashes offer enormous potential to promote Cardiff and Wales to the overseas market. Take the Indian sub-continent, for example, where it was recently reported that when Indian cricketer Tendulkar took to the field against Pakistan, the TV audience exceeded the entire population of Europe. Cardiff, as an established events city, is well-placed to tap into this very popular and lucrative market.”
He added, “What we should be doing is using events like this to market Cardiff and Wales as one of the UK’s leading short break holiday destinations. To achieve this, and to maximise the ‘off-field’ opportunities, we need to ensure that our products are both strong and in good supply. A Team Wales approach succeeded in bringing the Ashes to Cardiff and will continue to make the city and Wales an attractive proposition in the future.”
Richard Thomas, Managing Director at Cardiff & Co, the organisation charged with promoting the capital said, “The Ashes is the first of two new major events being held in the city-region between now and October 2010, when the Celtic Manor hosts the Ryder Cup. This is the first time the Ashes has been held outside Australia and England but I’m sure the city will take the event in its stride, as it did with the FA Cup finals for six consecutive years. The feedback from people coming to Cardiff for major sporting events, both as organisers and spectators has always been very positive.”
He added, “Cricket has a huge following in Australia and particularly on the Indian sub-continent where the growing economies and significant populations present excellent commercial and inward investment opportunities. Less typically but nonetheless important is the potential to attract overseas students to the city-region.”
Closing Richard Thomas said, “Cardiff is now widely recognised as one of Europe’s major event cities. There has been a lot of investment in the city’s stadia – the Millennium Stadium, SWALEC Stadium and the new Ninian Park Stadium at Leckwith – complemented by a significant investment in our hotels. These factors, combined, mean that Cardiff has never been in better shape in terms of visitor facilities. The Ashes will provide excellent exposure for the city-region and will hopefully be the first of many Test matches held in the capital city.”
17/06/2009
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