Participation in the 2018 World Cup would put Bristol on a par with Bath when Americans reach for their tourist brochures, according to bid team member John Savage.

Mr Savage is a respected member of the business community with more than 40 years experience of management in a wide range of industries and was awarded a CBE in 2006 for services to business and regeneration.

He is now also one of the three members of the Bristol 2018 bid executive alongside Bristol City FC chief executive Colin Sexstone and Bristol City Council chief executive Jan Ormondroyd.

And the 2018 World Cup could, in his opinion, be the tonic required to put added fizz into Bristol in terms of tourism and persuading the powers that be at Westminster to fund development projects in the South West.

Mr Savage said: "It is the world's biggest sporting event and it brings an enormous amount to the places it embraces."

"It would help push the projects we need and push Government to put money in."

The council have claimed Bristol's involvement could generate as much as £100 million in revenue, based on the city hosting up to five World Cup matches with an estimated direct spend of £20 million per match.

This figure is derived from work by Destination Bristol and the accountancy firm Deloitte's football finance department.

It is set to be expanded upon in August when the England 2018 bid team receive the results of an economic impact assessment being compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The 2001 FA Cup Final in Cardiff generated a direct spend of £4.2m according to research by Deloitte and Cardiff City Council, which was mostly attributed to day trippers.

Bristol would be hoping to encourage visitors to stay for more than an afternoon.

And Mr Savage is keen to stress the wider implications of the tournament beyond those four weeks in June or July 2018, and to emphasise the potential of a nine-year build-up marketing the city.

"We need to be selling Bristol as a place to come to live and work and bring your businesses," he said.

"There are a lot of Americans who know where Bath is but have no idea where Bristol is.

"Anything that draws people towards us is a good thing."

The Bristol bid team are hoping inclusion will also help secure funding from the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) for projects such as the Portishead rail link and the guided bus plan.

"There will be a lot of new facilities if we are awarded a role (in 2018), such as the guided bus," added Mr Savage, who is on the board of SWRDA.

"I think the Government would have to be a bit blind to ignore it.

"They have trained their attention on the north so if they want cities in the south they need to help us jump some of the transport hurdles.

"There's an implicit understanding that more funding would be available. For the moment though, this is just a bid to get into the FA bid to FIFA."

Mr Savage has lived in Bristol for 26 years since moving across from London and it has won him over completely.

"I'm probably Bristol's biggest supporter," he said.

"It's a cosmopolitan place in terms of entertainment, it has the coast and the Cotswolds nearby and getting to London is easy.

"There's a good working airport from where you can get to the continent and it doesn't have the oppressive size of London."

"The more people from a wider area that get on the website and vote for Bristol the better, because it is not just the potential for the city, it is the fun to be had on this."