THE OPEN golf championship offers a once-in-a-lifetime to promote Wirral on an international scale, according to the peninsula's tourism and marketing chief Emma Degg.

The tournament - just five months away - is expected to deliver a major boost to the local and regional economies, based on the impact it had on the Fife region of Scotland last summer.

The 174 hours of images of St Andrews, Fife and Scotland shown on television screens in more than 194 territories were worth the equivalent of £40m of advertising.

Ms Degg said: " This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to promote Wirral on the regional, national and international scale. We are working to ensure broadcasters get the best possible pictures, encouraging potential visitors and investors to come and see, first hand, our beautiful borough."

Wirral Council has joined forces with Mersey Partnership and the North West Regional Development Agency to get maximum benefits from the championship for the region's tourism business.

Contact has been made with national and international media and a special guide has been produced to provide tourism information for the 200,000 visitors expected in Wirral in July. It will provide details of restaurants, attractions and hotels and travel information.

Martin King, director of tourism for Mersey Partnership, said: "The guide will ensure that visitors have a fantastic experience during their stay. Even more importantly we want to encourage as many of those visitors as possible to return after the championship."

The Open Championship also provides the chance to showcase the area for potential inward investors.

More than 11% of visitors will come from overseas and of those 44% will be from America.

Peter Mearns, director of marketing for the NWDA spoke of the significance of the championship to the whole of the North West.

He said: "This fantastic event provides us with a great opportunity to place the whole region in the spotlight.

"It will ensure that England's North West benefits from the lasting legacy of the Open, further showcasing the region as a leading destination for major sporting events."