Economy of Cardiff

lar tourist destination cities in the United Kingdom, receiving 18.3 million visitors in 2010 and generating £852 million for the city's economy. One result of this is that one in five employees in Cardiff are based in the distribution, hotels and restaurants sector, highlighting the growing retail and tourism industries in the city. There are a large number of hotels of varying sizes and standards in the city, providing almost 9,000 available bed spaces.

Cardiff is home to the Welsh media and a large media sector with BBC Wales, S4C and ITV Wales all having studios in the city. In particular, there is a large independent TV production industry sector of over 600 companies, employing around 6000 employees and with a turnover estimated at £350 m. Just to the north west of the city, in Rhondda Cynon Taff, the first completely new film studios in the UK for 30 years are being built, named Valleywood. The studios are set to be the biggest in the UK. The BBC has announced it is to build new studios in Cardiff Bay to film dramas such as Casualty and Doctor Who, with the BBC intending to double media output from the city by 2016.

Cardiff has several regeneration projects such the St David's 2 Centre and surrounding areas of the city centre, and the £1.4 billion International Sports Village in Cardiff Bay which will play a part in London 2012 Olympics. It features the only Olympic-standard swimming pool in Wales, the Cardiff International Pool, which opened on 12 January 2008.

According to the Welsh Rugby Union, the Millennium Stadium has contributed £1 billion to the Welsh economy in the ten years since it opened (1999), with around 85% of that amount staying in the Cardiff area.

Shopping

The majority of Cardiff's shopping portfolio is in the city centre around Queen Street and St. Mary Street, with