GALWAY PORT has begun preparations for the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race finish, which is forecast to generate up to €80 million in revenue on the western seaboard.
Volvo Ocean Race chief executive Knut Frostad said Galway beat off “very stiff competition” from Amsterdam and Stockholm to secure a return stopover, following the success of last year’s event. Galway made the shortlist of 15 from a total of 34 European cities seeking a race stopover, and its success – confirmed yesterday – was “only partly due” to the city’s “ability to party”, he said.
Mr Frostad said it was the first time in the history of Volvo’s support for the ocean race that the fleet would not be sailing into a Scandinavian port.
"It says an awful lot about Galway . . . Scandinavia will have to come to Ireland," he told The Irish Times.
The round-the-world race generated almost €60 million in revenue when its transatlantic leg took in Ireland for the first time ever last year. The two-week event in late May and early June attracted some 650,000 people, according to a consultancy study.
An estimated 10,000 people waited all night till dawn on land and water for the finish of the transatlantic leg from Boston.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen signed the new contract with Volvo Ocean Race at an event in Dublin yesterday. The Government has committed €4 million to Ireland’s bid for the race, through Fáilte Ireland’s international sports tourism initiative.
Mr Frostad, who competed for his native Norway in the Olympics and has been twice winner of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, said that an in-port race in Galway Bay would form part of the race finish festival.
However, a plan to include a circumnavigation of Ireland for double points was still one of a number of “possibilities” being considered, he said.
“We really want the fleet to be sailing close together, as it will in the final stages when it reaches Europe, and sails from Lorient to Galway,” he said.
The shore festival will be “much more extensive” than last year, partly due to attendance of all the fleet sponsors, and “all we need now is the weather we got last time,” Mr Frostad said.
Four European ports – Alicante, Spain, Lisbon in Portugal, Lorient in France, and Galway – have been confirmed to date. It is expected that the race will stop in China and the US, while South Africa’s Cape Town has also already been confirmed.
Up to 12 yachts may compete, including Ireland’s Green Dragon, which came fifth overall last time. An Irish youth team will be formed to train for the entry, and the yacht will be fitted with a new keel.
The Galway organisers still face a challenge to raise sufficient sponsorship. Galway harbourmaster Capt Brian Sheridan confirmed that he received his first booking yesterday for a visitor’s yacht berth in the harbour during the event.
This time, port stopover selection is not contingent on a race entry. “Our aim was to go for the best ports, but obviously it is better for a port if it also has an entry,” Volvo Ocean Race spokeswoman Lizzie Ward said.
Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) president Paul Gallagher predicted that the stopover would attract up to 40,000 overseas visitors and inject up to €80 million in tourism income.
IHF Galway branch chairman Paul Gill paid tribute to Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív and Let’s Do It Galway chairman John Killeen for “their tireless energy and commitment”.
Galway is also due to host the start and finish for this year’s Around Ireland Powerboat Race from June 7th to 12th.