Sport is £250m winner for region
Hotels, eateries and shops benefit as thousands flock to events
SPORT delivered a whopping £250 MILLION boost to the West Midlands’ visitor economy last year, figures reveal.
Thousands of sport fans flocked to the region last year for events including the World Indoor Athletics Championships, the Gymnastics World Cup and the England v India Test match.
Buoyed by Wolverhampton Wanderers’ promotion to the Premier League, the region’s six professional football clubs welcomed more than 2.7 million fans through the turnstiles, although most were resident in the area.
Edgbaston Stadium also entertained more than 200,000 supporters across all formats of cricket. And the star-studded Nature Valley Classic, at nearby Edgbaston Priory Club, attracted around 25,000 tennis fans.
West Midlands Growth Company, which aims to boost tourism in the region, said sport had more than played its part in a 2.6 per cent rise in visitors, both domestically and internationally.
Tourist spending on expenses such as hotels, restaurants, shops and public transport was calculated at £12.6 billion – a rise of 6.7 per cent on 2017 – with sport said to have contributed an impressive £251.2 million.
Becky
Frall, acting head of
visitor attraction at West Midlands Growth Company, said: “From hosting Premier League football and the world’s most impressive indoor athletes, to global tennis superstars and Test match cricket at Edgbaston, the West Midlands’ 2018 sporting calendar had something for every passionate sports fan.
“Our region has made its mark among global sporting organisations as a friendly and reliable host of major international fixtures. This will continue as we build up to the Commonwealth Games in 2022, when the West Midlands welcomes the largest sporting and cultural celebration in the UK since the 2012 Olympics.”
The number of sports visitors is expected to rise in 2019 on the back of Aston Villa’s promotion to football’s top flight and Edgbaston’s staging of five prominent fixtures at the ICC Cricket World Cup.
And, given the Cricket World Cup alone had a near £34 million economic impact, 2019 could turn out to be a bumper year for the region.
Neil Snowball, chief executive of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, said: “Edgbaston and Birmingham have proven to be outstanding hosts for the biggest matches by ensuring there are strong matchday transport links to and from the stadium, and an impressive range of accommodation, restaurants and leisure facilities to utilise around the match.
“In 2018, our major match programme included England games against Australia same summer.
“Our strong 2019 schedule has featured five marquee games of the Cricket World Cup, the opening Test of the Specsavers Ashes series and Vitality Blast Finals Day.
“These fixtures offer us a fantastic opportunity to leave a legacy for the game in Birmingham, Warwickshire and the wider West Midlands.”
Overseas visitors also contributed £16.7 million to the region through screen tourism, according to the latest figures.
The key drivers were identified as: The 2018 release of Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, partly filmed in Birmingham;
Global TV phenomenon Peaky Blinders, which has been streamed across the world on Netflix;
Cultural celebrations in 2018 included Coventry’s Godiva Festival and the Wolverhampton Festival of Food & Drink, while new attractions include Legoland Discovery Centre and the Bear Grylls Adventure.
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