Filed under: Events, Festivals, Ireland, People, Places, tourism | Tags: failte ireland, Galway, Galway Bay, galway ireland, galway tourism, Ireland, Irish Tourism, summer festivals, tourism galway, travel, visit galway, visitors to ireland, Volvo Ocean Race, west of ireland
Volvo ocean race galway
The organisations behind a high-profile event held earlier this year in Galway have yet to pay some of their suppliers and are in talks with a number of them in a bid to get their bills discounted or rescheduled.
Businesses which supplied Volvo Race in Galway say that they have yet to be paid by the organisations behind the event.
The Volvo Ocean Race have offering 70 per cent of the total that they owe with the prospect of further payments in the future.
The owner-manager of one of the suppliers pointed out that he has over 30 staff who have to be paid every week, and added that his business cannot afford to operate in a situation where it is not being paid.
The stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race, a round-the-world sailing event in Galway, was billed as a huge success. It was originally estimated that it would attract up to 140,000 spectators or “visits” over a two-week period.
Ultimately, it was estimated that it drew some 600,000, with a considerable spin-off for the city and the region.
A spokeswoman for Let’s Do It Galway, the group behind the organisation of the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Galway, confirmed that it has a number of creditors who supplied goods and services to the event that have yet to be paid.
She said that the organisation had contracts with about 1,000 suppliers, and was dealing with debts running to a “double-figure number”.
The spokeswoman said that it was seeking discounts and attempting to reschedule payments to these suppliers.
State tourism agency Fáilte Ireland pledged €8 million to the Volvo Ocean Race. The spokeswoman explained that the body is not due to pay this money until Let’s Do It Galway completes a number of audits and reports on which it is currently working.
It also has to collect some sponsorship money due from smaller, local backers.
Filed under: Events, Festivals, Ireland, People, Places, tourism | Tags: galway ireland, galway races, galway tourism, Ireland, summer festivals, tourism galway, visit galway, west of ireland
The Galway Races Summer Festival organising committee are hopeful that despite the recession attendances at this year’s flagship event will hold steady, with a ‘late burst of bookings’ indicating that between 180,000 and 200,000 are likely to flock to Ballybrit from Monday next. Galway City businesses are keeping their fingers crossed too that the remarkable pulling power of the annual pinnacle of Galway’s tourism season will rescue what has been a difficult Summer so far by pumping an estimated €70 million or €80 million injection into the local economy.
Last year around 175,000 paying customers went through the stalls at Ballybrit over the seven days with an estimated 30,000 or so more in the free area and funfair area adjacent to the entrance tunnel opposite the stand and although Mr Moloney said the numbers could be down 10% this year, he is hopeful numbers will hold steady.
