What are the benefits of The Open coming to North West?

For the first time in a generation, the men's and women's Open Championship will be held in the North-West this summer.

Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport on Merseyside and Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club in Lancashire will play host to the tournaments.

With excitement building ahead of two weeks of golf, what is the benefit of the global sporting spotlight shining on the region?

"It's putting Southport on the map to people all over the world," said Victoria Palmer, from Southport Golf Tours.

Palmer added: "It's that global marketing that we would not be able to afford as a small business, that having The Open here is just really important.

"People will see us on the telly and they'll want to book a trip, hopefully."

Royal Birkdale, which was established in 1889 but redesigned in 1922, will host the 154th men's Open Championship in July.

The Southport golf course has hosted The Open 10 times and American Jordan Spieth was the last player to lift the Claret Jug at the venue in 2017.

The AIG Women's Open will celebrate its 50th staging, which also begins in July.

It will be the sixth time Royal Lytham & St Annes will have hosted the tournament, having last opened its doors for England's Georgia Hall's victory in 2018.

Mark Darbon, chief executive of the golf governing body R&A, said the benefits to the wider region were "really significant".

"So we tend to generate more than £200m of direct economic benefit when we come to town with an Open Championship," he said.

"That's made up of a few things.

"It's obviously driven by the spend on local goods and services, accommodation, bars and restaurants from visitors to the championship.

"It also accounts for the destination marketing benefits."

For Maeve Schaffer, from the think tank IPPR North, the sporting benefits can be overstated, but if planned properly, local areas can really benefit.

"These events can be catalysts, but it has to be a deliberate consideration from the very beginning," she said.

"It's not automatic, the economic boost doesn't just happen, it has to be thought through.

"It has to be planned and communities have to be considered from the beginning."

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