WREXHAM'S WIN
Ryan Reynolds’ incredible impact on Wrexham’s tourism earnings revealed four years since taking over football club
The Hollywood owners have also spoken about building a 55,000-capacity stadium for the North Wales club
FILM star Ryan Reynolds helped treble Wrexham’s tourism earnings in the four years since taking over the football team.
Two million visitors — an increase of 21 per cent — spent around £179million in the Welsh city last year, supporting 1,758 hospitality jobs.
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The sum was £49million in 2020 when Deadpool actor Ryan 48, and business partner Rob McElhenney, 47, arrived.
Their Welcome to Wrexham Disney+ documentary has been hailed as driving the boost, covering the side’s back-to-back promotions from the National League to League One.
Joe Bickerton, Wrexham County Borough Council destination manager, said: "The Welcome to Wrexham documentary has acted as a catalyst for many - and the city has stepped up to embrace visitors.
He added: “People might come because they’ve seen certain aspects on the documentary or they might now be interested to see what Wrexham is all about."
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The figures show that Wrexham’s tourism revenue is now around £90m higher than 2012.
Joe said: “Last year we were the best-performing local authority in Wales for visitor growth. We see 21% as an anomaly, we usually see growth of 5 or 6 per cent.”
They are also launching Wrexham Lager in the US.
Reynolds and fellow funnyman Rob became co-owners of the Wrexham Lager brewery - and will sell cans of the beer to 29 states.
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And they hope the historic 140-year-old beer will have better luck than when on its first US crossing - as the only lager to be sold on the doomed first voyage of the Titanic.
The pair have spoken about building a stadium of 55,000-capacity - bigger than Manchester City’s - and have been praised for investing in not only the football club but the former industrial town as well.
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