BOLTON will begin to rake in an estimated £30 million when the Commonwealth Games gets underway.

Sport fans visiting town are expected to spent an average of £168 each.

A predicted 190,000 people are likely to make a journey into Bolton, creating a bumper cash windfall.

And the long term benefits are likely to last for a few years.

Areas such as Rivington, host of the outdoor cycling events, are likely to attract visitors for years to come, benefiting from being exposed to an estimated worldwide TV audience of one billion.

Although Manchester will get the lions' share of attention, Bolton will not, according to experts, be too far behind.

Of the 10 local authorities which make up Greater Manchester, Bolton is the only outside Manchester that is actually hosting an event.

The badminton tournament is already a sell-out. Bolton Arena has a capacity of 4,500 people and with morning and afternoon sessions, 9,000 spectators will watch the sport every day -- a total of 90,000 fans.

Rivington is expected to be packed with about 100,000 people, weather permitting, on each one of the three days of cycling.

Far from being a flop, the Commonwealth Games has already achieved great success.

It has broken sponsorship records (football's Euro 96 made £30 million, the Games are totalling £35m) as well as ticket sale records (80 per cent of tickets have been sold, putting it on a par with the Sydney Olympics).

The Commonwealth Games are proving to be to Manchester what the Olympics were to Barcelona in 1992.

The Catalan city was revitalised by the Olympic Games and the legacies of the sporting event are still evident. It boosted the economy and led to escalating regeneration. Cash will pour into restaurants, shops, cafes, bars and the many tourist attractions around the borough. There will be 5,250 athletes and 15,000 volunteers competing and working in the area, making the Games the biggest multi-sport event ever to be held in Britain.

A million live spectators in total will visit 15 venues across Greater Manchester.

Neils de Vos, Commonwealth Games commercial director, said: "Bolton will have the eyes of the world on it.

"People will watch television and see how beautiful Horwich and Rivington are and will hopefully make trips there when they next come to England.

"These Games will be fantastic for the whole area."

Bolton and Bury Chamber chief executive Andrew Ratcliff said: "The Commonwealth Games presents a truly golden business opportunity for local companies.

"It has been estimated that visitor spend in Bolton alone will amount to around £30 million during the course of the Games, which is great news for our local retailers and the hospitality sector."