The Ryder Cup

An example of a human tourist attraction is a big sporting event.

A good example of this is the upcoming Ryder Cup which will be held at The Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales in September 2010.

The Celtic Manor Resort is a hotel and golf complex on the edge of Newport in South Wales. However, the impacts of the Ryder Cup are already being felt across all of Wales.

A natural choice for tourists

Wales is a natural choice for outdoor tourists such as golfers. Wales has stunning scenery including mountains, forests and coasts.

Many golf courses have been built to take full advantage of this but until recently Wales has not had its fair share of golfing tourists – too many have visited Scotland but did not even know of the Welsh golfing attractions.

Benefits for Wales

The obvious benefit of an event such as the Ryder Cup is the visitor numbers. It is hoped that upwards of 45,000 people will visit the event each day. The event could generate up to £96 million just in the week of the competition!

These visitors will of course be buying tickets but they will also be staying in hotels, guesthouses and even renting ordinary people's houses. Restaurants, bars and all types of shops will also be booming. However there have been far more benefits to Wales before the event and there will be more after.

Across Wales there has been a boost to tourism since Wales gained the right to stage the Ryder Cup. In North Wales golf based tourism is booming. At Royal St David's in Gwynedd, overseas visitors have rocketed since hosting the Ryder Cup Wales Seniors and the course now features in Golf Digest's Top 100 outside the USA.

Businesses such as the Castle Cottage Restaurant in Harlech have doubled in size over the past year. They attribute this spectacular success to their region's raised profile due to the Ryder Cup Wales Seniors tournament and golf marketing campaigns by the Wales Tourist Board.

For example the Royal St David's in Harlech hosted the Ryder Cup Wales Seniors Open from 2001 – 2005, in 2005 Nefyn hosted the Ryder Cup Wales Challenge event and, more recently, Conwy was host venue to the 2007 and 2008 Ryder Cup Wales Seniors Open.

Apart from boosting tourism for all of Wales there are other benefits. Large events such as the Ryder Cup have regeneration effects. Large areas of the Newport town centre and river Usk waterfront have been transformed in the run up to the Ryder Cup. Transport infrastructure has also been improved including the railways and the motorway which will have benefits for both local residents and local businesses.

Disadvantages for Wales

It might sound perfect hosting an event such as the Ryder Cup but not everyone will be happy. People who live close by will be faced with tens of thousands of additional cars on the roads imagine if you were on the school bus stuck in a five mile traffic jam!

But local businesses such as haulage companies could have it even worse and this could really affect their profits. All those cars produce pollution and all of those people will produce rubbish and litter so the environment could also suffer.

These are all examples of conflict where different people will have different opinions about something. For the vast majority the Ryder Cup will be a blessing but for a small minority living close by it could be a nightmare week!