Wales’s portfolio of sports events is expanding fast, with a new horse-race track and a major new sports stadium opening this year, expanding opportunities for the international sports tourism sector and providing the meetings and incentive sector with new purpose-built facilities. Opening in June this year is the £320 million (€360 million), 600-acre, Ffos Las Racecourse at Llanelli in South Wales - the first racetrack to be built in the UK for 80 years. Designed as a year-round facility with an equestrian centre, riding school and top-of-the-range racehorse training facility, developers have also incorporated purpose-built meetings and incentive facilities for up to 500 delegates. The restaurant, featuring locally sourced food, can accommodate 150 delegates for dining, or 500 for a reception.

Cardiff will open the new £30 million (€33.7 million) Cardiff City Stadium this summer, ready for the 2009-10 rugby and football season. The 26,500 all-seated ground is the second largest in Wales after Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, and the complex will eventually include the rebuilt Cardiff Athletic Stadium. A flexible, purpose-built conference and dining area will accommodate up to 700 delegates while the lounge bar area can take 1,700 delegates.

In another successful move, Wales is to host the 2009 Ashes Series for the first time. The first of the cricket test match series between England and Australia will be held in Cardiff’s SWALEC Stadium, home to Glamorgan Cricket Club in July. After a £9.5 million (€107 million) redevelopment, the SWALEC stadium has a spectator capacity of 16,000, and conference and banqueting facilities for over 2,000 delegates. But the economic crisis has led to a decision by both Wales and Scotland to pull out of the bidding process to hold the Euro 2016 football tournament. Both countries say the infrastructure required would be too costly.

As host to golf’s Ryder Cup in 2010, Wales has already upgraded golf courses around in country in addition to creating the Cup venue at Celtic Manor, Newport, which is one of Europe’s largest residential conference, leisure and golf complexes. In the run-up to the Ryder Cup, a range of innovative golf-related packages for leisure visitors, and for the meetings and incentive sector, are already on offer.