Today in Dubai Jose Maria Olazabal has been named as favourite to captain Europe in the 2010 Ryder Cup to be held here in Wales next Autumn.
In the current global economic crisis are preparations for the world’s biggest golfing event being affected by the credit crunch? You can bet your bottom dollar that the golfing fraternity will move heaven and earth to ensure that the event goes ahead as planned. Indeed, the scale of the Ryder Cup means that it has the potential to stimulate and regenerate the region’s economy. Councillor Bob Bright Leader of Newport City Council said
“For the City of Newport, the 2010 Ryder Cup is about much more
than hosting the world’s most prestigious golfing tournament. It is about making the most of the enormous opportunities that come with it”.
The opportunities for tourism and the hotel and catering industry are immense. Already, the major hotels are fully booked across south and mid Wales. Here is just a sample of some of the biggest hotels in Cardiff.
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There has been no sign of mass cancellations from either side of the pond due to the recession. Indeed, demand for high quality accommodation is so great that you can book your cabin on board a luxury cruise liner which will bw berthed 7 miles away in Newport Dock – for a price! You will need to be on more than a sailor’s wage to pay for your stay on the cruise liner.
For the ordinary householder you can rent your way out of the recession. A two bedroomed cottage at Whitebrook near Chepstow rented out for a week will earn you a cool £6000. A 4 bedroom modern house in Cardiff 20 minutes drive from the Celtic Manor £11,500 whilst a miniature stately home will improve your bank balance to the tune of £25,000 for a week’s rental. If you want to rent a 5 bedroom house within walking distance of the 2010 course you will need deep pockets as it will set you back a cool £60K.
The transport infrastructure will also benefit from the improvements made for the vast amounts of people who will travel by car and or public transport to the event. Some 40,000 visited the Ryder Cup when held in the K Club, near Kildare, Ireland in 2006. These improvements will remain after the 2010 event and will hopefully help regenerate south east Wales economy by attracting more firms and industries.
The Ryder cup is the third most watched sporting event in the world that attracts on average 1 billion television viewers. The lush greenery of the rolling Welsh hills in the Usk valley will showcase what Wales has to offer for the tourist. This will help combat the stereotypical image often portrayed of Wales abroad as a heavy industrialised nation full of coal miners with every village having a slag tip on every corner. Gren the cartoonist eat your heart out! With a fair wind and blue skies in the period between 1st – 3rd October 2010 when the event is played it will promote Wales to the rest of the world as a largely undiscovered gem in the geography of the United Kingdom up there with Ireland and Scotland as a place worthy of a visit.
Interview with Paul Williams, PR Manager Celtic Manor
The Ryder Cup will also serve to promote the game of golf as an active and healthy leisure pursuit for people especially for Wales’s youngsters - the future Ian Woosenhams and the Bradley Dredges of this country .
The Celtic Manor already has the golf development academy in its grounds. It also has three golf courses, the twenty ten course being designed especially for the Ryder Cup. Such world class courses will allow Wales’s golf hopefuls to practise and compete using the best facilities available to them anywhere in the world.
So it seems that no matter how much the credit crunch may hurt people’s plans in the next few years golfers world wide will still attend the 2010 Ryder Cup in the Celtic manor - an event they regard as being on par to having a hole in one!
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