Residents of London encouraged to visit Swansea the only Premier City in Wales

Many thousands of shoppers, workers, residents and visitors are being greeted by breathtaking images of Swansea Bay when they're out and about in central London.

Rhossili

Swansea Council has put up promotional posters of Gower in several parts of the city in the build-up to the Swans taking on teams like West Ham, Reading and Chelsea at the Liberty Stadium in the Barclays Premier League.

The posters show Rhossili Bay and encourage Londoners to escape the big smoke and take in some sea air when visiting the Swansea Bay area for world class football.

Posters have gone up in busy shopping areas in Westminster, Hammersmith, Islington, Kensington, Chelsea and Camden. They include QR (Quick Response) codes that people with smart phones can scan over to be automatically redirected to the official Visit Swansea Bay website.

The Swans take on newly-promoted West Ham in their first home Premier League game of the season on Saturday (August 25).

Cllr Nick Bradley, Swansea Council's Cabinet Member for Regeneration, said: "We undertook a similar marketing campaign in central London last season and it was very successful. It encouraged many fans of clubs like Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal to spend quality time in Swansea Bay instead of just travelling down for 90 minutes or so of football at the Liberty Stadium. It also hopefully raised the awareness of Swansea Bay as a visitor destination to non-football supporters.

"We now need to build on that success, make sure we replicate activities that worked and continue to think of innovative ways to attract more fans in the months to come.

"These areas of London have been targeted for promotional marketing because of the footfall there and it was always our intention to attract fans of newly-promoted clubs like West Ham and Reading – many of whom may never have been to Swansea before.

"West Ham is a very popular club among Londoners and many people commute to central London every day from Reading."

Swansea Council has also organised a visit for Daily Mirror journalists this weekend to coincide with the football. This means many millions of Brits will soon be reading about Swansea Bay as a place to visit. The journalists have been sent an itinerary that takes in Swansea, Mumbles and Gower.