Wirral aiming to make most of golf as Women’s British Open comes to Hoylake

Sep 14 2012 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Echo

WIRRAL was today seeking to take advantage of up to 70,000 visitors at the Women’s British Open at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

Many hotels are booked up and vacancies are limited, according to the tourism department at Wirral council.

The first day saw 8,900 people attend the event in Hoylake, but with the weather expected to improve over the final three days of the tournament it is hoped this will rise significantly.

Tournament director Ross Hallett praised the role of the local authority and the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in hosting the event and said their enthusiasm had been “great for the event”.

He said advance ticket sales had been similar to previous tournaments held in the north west, at Lytham 2009 and Birkdale 2010.

The council has also been working with Wirral restaurants, encouraging them to make the most of the opportunity provided by the spotlight shone on the borough during the tournament.

Council leader Phil Davies said: “We have worked hard to make sure that as many businesses benefit from Wirral’s hosting of the Championship as possible and we have produced a promotional leaflet through our Food and Drink Partnership to promote special offers in local businesses, which was supported by Merseytravel.

“About 20,000 copies of this leaflet were distributed to tourist information points in Liverpool city centre, Cheshire Oaks, Chester city centre, train stations and hotels.

“We have also invited restaurants to give taster sessions on course at the Visit Wirral stand as well as promoting the borough’s tourism offer to spectators and have given advice and support to our businesses through the Wirral Tourism Business Network in the run-up to the Championship.”

Nicola Verkade, whose family-run North Villa Apartments in Hoylake has been booked up for weeks, said the tournament was “very exciting” and major events had a “knock-on effect” for local businesses.

She said: “We do get quite a lot of golf business and events like the Wirral Classic later in the year are busy.

“But we do not usually get this level of demand at this time of year, just out of the main holiday season.

“A lot of our business is either holiday or corporate bookings. This has had a huge impact for us, especially in a small place like Hoylake.”