Galway's global race finale to yield €65m

TWO GOVERNMENT Ministers have predicted that the Volvo Ocean Race finish in Galway this summer will yield some €65 million in economic value and will attract up to 700,000 people.

State departments and agencies also plan to participate in a “global village expo” during the race festival, which will provide a platform for “innovation, food, green and marine” sectors of the economy.

The global village was endorsed by Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore and Minister for the Marine, Simon Coveney at a press briefing in Dublin yesterday.

The Volvo race organisers are appealing for 1,200 volunteers to help run the event, which will be shorter than the 2009 stopover. The 15-day festival in 2009 was the first ever in an Irish port for the global circumnavigation formerly known as the Whitbread.

A Deloitte consultancy study estimated that the 2009 event was worth over €55 million to the region. The organisers, Let’s Do It Global, are confident of a repeat performance, having secured €4 million from the Government through Fáilte Ireland. However, original estimates of an €80 million yield have been scaled down.

Speaking at the press briefing, Mr Coveney said the race took in some of Ireland’s “biggest, and emerging, trading partners” on its 39,270 nautical mile traverse.

The race began last autumn in Spain (Alicante) and has included stopovers in South Africa (Cape Town), the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi), China (Sanya) and New Zealand (Auckland). The fleet continues to Brazil (Itajaí), the USA (Miami), Portugal (Lisbon) and France (Lorient) before heading north to Galway.

“With these come over 250 travelling media and a great opportunity to make an impression on [an] audience of two billion people.”