We are punching above our weight

WALES once more takes centre stage to a global audience this weekend. We have become adept at hosting enormous events on a scale which critics might argue are beyond the scope and capability of a nation the size of our own.

But time and again we have proved detractors wrong – from the Rugby World Cup, to FA Cup finals, to the Ryder Cup, to a summit of global leaders.

It was the Nato summit held in Newport in 2014 that struck home how brilliant we are at these things. And why, to trot out a well-worn cliché, Wales punches far above its weight when it comes to staging major events.

Saturday’s Champions League final in Cardiff will see two of European football’s biggest names take each other on in the city. Thousands of Juventus and Real Madrid supporters will swarm the capital, along with delegates, politicians and sponsors. It is the biggest club game in the world – the financial rewards of reaching the final are jaw-dropping, the prestige of winning it outright similarly huge.

So what’s in it for us? Again we have the opportunity to showcase Wales to the world.

While many armchair fans will simply tune in and out of the game with little thought for where it’s being played, many more will be finding out about our incredible country for the first time.

This is an entirely different audience to the international golfing and rugby events of years past. Cardiff and Wales will be marketed in a way that will provide much longer-term gains.

Brand Wales is getting a boost, but what does the Champions League mean for the city of Cardiff right now?

Those living and working in the capital will have seen how quickly things have been geared up for the final. The city centre has been dressed up, the road closures are beginning to snarl up traffic, Cardiff Bay will host a carnival of football – a celebratory atmosphere is starting to descend.

In economic terms, it is the bars, pubs, hotels and restaurants of the city and its hinterland which will benefit most from the loose wallets of this weekend’s visitors – other businesses may have to take a hit this weekend while shoppers veer away from streets thronging with Spanish and Italian football fans and staff struggle to overcome public transport hurdles.

We firmly believe that these few days of disruption to normality will offer much greater rewards. Because there are few chances for us to compete with our international rivals. Being good at events is one of them.

We have, in the temporarilynamed National Stadium of Wales, a showpiece arena – as much at ease staging beer festivals, speedway finals, pop concerts and boxing bouts as it is its primary purpose, international rugby. Its latest incarnation this weekend as the home of club football’s most prestigious game demonstrates its value to Wales’ economic wellbeing.

The question now is, what’s next for Wales? Let’s continue to punch far above our weight. The Western Mail newspaper is published by Media Wales a subsidiary company of Trinity Mirror PLC, which is a member of IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. The entire contents of The Western Mail are the copyright of Media Wales Ltd. It is an offence to copy any of its contents in any way without the company’s permission. If you require a licence to copy parts of it in any way or form, write to the Head of Finance at Six Park Street. The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2014 was 78.5%