16 October 2009

Major events contribute £150million in 5 years

Major events supported by the NWDA have contributed £150 million to the Northwest economy in the last 5 years.

The figure has been achieved through a prestigious line-up of sporting, cultural and business events which has included the Uefa Women’s Football Championships; FINA World Swimming Championships; the Paralympic World Cup; the Turner Prize; Liverpool Biennial; Manchester International Festival; Liverpool Business Summit; World Squash Championships; the Tour of Britain and the Great North Swim.

Building on the major success of Manchester’s 2002 Commonwealth Games, in 2004 the NWDA became the first RDA to launch a Major Events Strategy, positioning the Northwest as a world-leading destination for hosting major events.

Peter Mearns, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications at the NWDA, said:
“The Commonwealth Games attracted an extra 300,000 visitors per year who generated an extra £12m in increased tourism spend per year which demonstrates the economic impact that hosting major events can have. The major events strategy was launched to exploit that potential and the figure of £150 million shows not only that this is a worthwhile strategy, but that the Northwest has been highly successful in attracting events, particularly sporting events.
“In the Northwest there is the infrastructure, expertise and the passion to host successful major events. This reputation is attracting high-profile events which both enhance our image across the world, and make a significant contribution to the regional economy.”

Impact from major events has been growing year on year and over the year to March 2009, the NWDA supported 25 major events across the Northwest, which brought 1.75 million visitors to the region and generated £45 million for our economy.

Key successes include:

• The Turner Prize was held outside of London for the first time in 2007. It generated £10million and attracted over 71,000 visitors to the exhibition at Tate Liverpool.

• In Cumbria the first Great North Swim was launched in 2008 with the support of the NWDA which generated around £750,000 in economic impact. The first event was so popular it was voted 5th Top Open Water Swim in the World, became a two-day event for 2009 and attracted over 6,000 competitors.

• The Paralympic World Cup has been held in Manchester for five years running. In 2008 there were almost 12,000 visitors and an economic impact of £1million.

• Ironman UK was recently held in Bolton and the Northwest for the first time. The NWDA suggested Bolton as an ideal location for the high-profile event and worked closely with Bolton Council and Ironman UK to stage the event. This international event attracted over 1,600 athletes from as far afield as Australia and Argentina and will be held in Bolton in 2010 and 2011, contributing around £9 million to the regional economy in total.

• The NWDA was a key partner in the development of the Manchester International Festival which generated an economic impact of £28.8million in 2007 and attracted 200,930 people. The NWDA helped in developing the positioning of the Festival and provided initial financial support which helped lever private sector funding of £3.6million; the most private sector funding ever raised for a UK festival.

Impact on businesses and jobs

Major events in the region also provide contracts for business and the Manchester International Festival is a good example of this where, in 2007, almost £7.8m was spent which included commissioning the programme. These included 310 service suppliers and 76 local artists.

The NWDA is developing the event supplier network to ensure that Northwest companies are fully exploiting the opportunities in the region and outside the region.

Over the past five years, major events that the NWDA has been associated with have attracted about 4 million business and leisure visitors to the region and created a positive image which contributes to the economic development of England’s Northwest – including over 70 hours of national and international television coverage

Those major events staged in the region attracted with the support of the NWDA, sustain on average 450 jobs per year.

In 2008 events supported by the NWDA, including the European MTV Music Awards and Turner Prize, complemented the Liverpool European Capital of Culture programme which generated £800million in economic benefit and 15 million cultural visits.

Across the region, the NWDA led on strategies and sponsored events to ensure the impact of Capital of Culture was felt everywhere. Cheshire’s Year of Gardens, Lancashire’s Year of Food, Cumbria’s Year of Adventure and Manchester’s Year of Sport enjoyed their own successes and attracted an additional 500,000 visitors between them.

Going forward, the NWDA is looking to ensure that the region fully capitalises on the country’s ‘decade of sport’ and, as well as taking the regional lead on the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, is also ensuring that the Northwest fully benefits from the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup and England’s bid to stage the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

Editors’ Notes:

The NWDA works closely with local authorities, regional, national and international organisations in order to attract major events to the Northwest which would not otherwise happen without the NWDA’s support.

This figure of £150million does not include the tourism impact from NWDA and other funding which was awarded to Liverpool for European Capital of Culture 2008.

The figure is based on visitor spend and, depending on the event, is based on evaluations by consultants, evaluations by local authorities and evaluations by NWDA.

The NWDA worked to attract and support some 76 events to the Northwest in the last 5 years.

The following major events supported by NWDA will be held in the Northwest during the rest of this financial year:

October:
30-1st    UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classic, Manchester

November:
6-8th  UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships, Manchester

March
2-3rd Soccerex European Forum, Manchester

For further information please contact Sam Shale, Press Officer on 01925 400264 or 07717 427872 or sam.shale@nwda.co.uk

For urgent out of hours press enquiries please call 01925 400259.

For further information and to view all press releases visit us at www.nwda.co.uk/press

The Northwest Regional Development Agency works to deliver economic success in England’s Northwest by building the competitiveness of businesses, people and places.  As part of its work to support these objectives, the NWDA works with partners to secure world-class events, which are distinctive and capable of attracting large numbers of visitors from outside the region and which significantly enhance the profile of the region.