The 2022 Commonwealth Games may be finishing up today, but for Birmingham’s tourism industry the real work has only just begun.
As one of the fastest growing sectors in travel, sports tourism is becoming wildly popular, whether you’re interested in sport or not.
Major sporting events have the power to act as a catalyst for improving the infrastructure and visibility of host cities and, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), can even contribute to the 17 sustainable development goals.
Research from VisitBritain has shown the positive impact a major sporting event can have on a country’s international standing.
Following the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games, Britain’s overall ‘nation brand’ improved, and so did international perceptions of its welcome.
Visitors who come to the UK to watch sport also stay longer and spend more, spending an average of £1,000 ($1,745) compared to the all-market average of £691 ($1,206) and staying 11 nights versus an all-market average of eight .
This year’s Commonwealth Games was the largest multi-sport competition held in England in over a decade, with two billion people expected to have tuned in through broadcast media, 2.5 million participating in festival activities surrounding the Games and more than 1 million attending the event itself .
“Right now, our job is to make sure that we do right by this region, by making the best of what people have seen and done in Birmingham so that this place is on the map,” said Tricia Warwick, VisitBritain’s director for APMEA & North Asia, who flew in from Dubai to attend the Commonwealth Games.
“At the moment, it’s an afterthought. They [tourists] go to London, they go to Manchester, they go to Scotland, they go to the Lake District because these are the well-known, promoted places.”
Warwick said Travel Weekly VisitBritain is working with the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC) on a legacy program for the area which will include new stadiums and regeneration projects.
But the biggest barrier to continuing the momentum is airline capacity.
“The most important thing for anywhere is Airlift. If you can get enough seats into a place it can take off and Birmingham has an international airport but there’s a really small number of international flights coming,” Warwick continued.
“We need to get the airline support to come into Birmingham. We need enough connections through to Australia.”
Australia is an increasingly important market for the West Midlands, according to Neil Rami, the chief executive of WMGC.
“Australia is really important, because of the obvious historical connections,” Rami told Travel Weekly.
“There’s probably more attention now from Australians coming to the UK than before [COVID-19].”
In fact, Rami said the demand is so strong, WMGC is planning a mission to Australia early next year to engage further with the travel trade.
“Despite our economic success, despite the fact that we attract more investment here than anywhere else in the UK, Birmingham is still not a particularly well-known place, particularly for leisure tourists.
“So the platform of the game is a global spotlight; 2 billion people over 11 days will have seen something of Birmingham. We’re never gonna get that opportunity again.”
In 2019 the West Midlands region’s visitor economy was worth almost $23 billion dollars, up by 3.6 per cent from the previous year, attracting 134 million visitors. Between 2016 and 2019, the number of full-time equivalent jobs supported by tourism rose by 10 per cent.
When the global pandemic hit, the value and volume of the tourism sector dropped by 60 per cent, and isn’t expected to return to ‘normal’ until 2024.
“We needed this. Not just in this city or in the West Midlands, but in the country. We need something that brings people together, something they can enjoy,” Rami said.
Featured image source: Birmingham City Council