The Bristol 2018 World Cup bid team have returned from Germany with the invigorating message from two 2006 World Cup cities – "we would do it again tomorrow".

Hannover and Frankfurt hosted 10 games between them when the most-watched sporting event in the world came to Germany in 2006.

The German cities were a great help as Bristol's bid team aim to achieve their goal of bringing World Cup football to the West Country.

Hannover's 43,000 capacity AWD Arena saw Italy beat Ghana 2-0, Mexico draw with Angola 0-0, Poland overcome Costa Rica 2-1, Switzerland defeat South Korea 2-0 and, in the second round, France knock out Spain 3-1.

Frankfurt's Commerzbank-Arena played host to England's 1-0 win over Paraguay, South Korea beating Togo 2-1, Portugal overcoming Iran 2-0, the Netherlands 0-0 draw with Argentina and France shock Brazil by winning 1-0 in the quarter finals.

Both cities proved excellent case studies for the visitors from Bristol, who included Stephen Wray, partnerships director for Bristol City Council, and Guy Price, development advisor for Bristol City FC.

Hannover refurbished an existing stadium, sticking to a strict budget of 65 million euros, while Frankfurt spent 188 million euros on a new stadium and a further 42 million euros on associated infrastructure.

Despite the significant investment required by both German cities, they confessed to their visitors from Bristol that they would do it again tomorrow if they could, with the rewards of the tournament far outweighing the initial outlay of hosting it.

By contrast, Bristol's proposed new stadium at Ashton Vale, which is currently subject to a planning application, will be predominately funded by Bristol City FC.

Germany's Interior Minister in 2006, Wolfgang Schäuble, reported in December that year that the four-week tournament earned Germany's tourism industry an extra 300 million euros in revenue, added two billion euros to retail sales and yielded 50,000 new jobs.

And the German World Cup Organizing Committee earned a net profit of 56.5 million euros, which was passed on to the German Soccer Federation (DFB) and German Soccer League (DFL), according to the report.

The Frankfurt tourist board reported an increase of 13.5 per cent in overnight visitors in 2006 (with an increase of almost 25 per cent in visitors from the UK) and between 2005 and 2008 has seen a rise of 8.2 per cent, attributed mostly to the exposure from the World Cup.

Mr Price was enthused by the reaction of his German hosts and their desire to help emphasise the enormous economic impact the tournament can deliver.

He told the Evening Post: "They described the benefits as nothing short of 'immense'. They cited pride and self image, a huge increase in reputation and an increase in overnight stays as the main benefactors and were amazed at the amount of exposure the city received on TV."

The world was watching when Frankfurt, through a stroke of good fortune, earned the right to help stage the opening celebrations on June 5, 2006, after plans in Berlin misfired.

The council had invested in a phenomenal, ticketed light show utilising their "unique selling point", the city's dramatic skyline. And such was it's success that the organisers drafted it in as a substitute opening event and urged them to repeat it twice over during the tournament.

Bristol has shown in the past fortnight it is more than capable of similar such shows. Some 250,000 people partied among seven different stages at the Harbour Festival 10 days ago and last weekend almost half a million people turned their eyes to the skies at Ashton Court for Europe's biggest balloon fiesta.

A mark of the enthusiasm for the tournament, likely to be repeated in the West Country should Bristol be successful, was reflected in the sheer number of big screens erected for people to congregate around.

The Hesse region of approximately six million people (of which Frankfurt is the capital) is similar in size to the West Country and staged 1,150 public viewing areas, excluding pub gardens.

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