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: Ireland, People, Places, Volvo Ocean Race, tourism | Tags: Galway, galway tourism, Ireland, Irish Tourism, Oceans, Sailing, summer festivals, tourism galway, travel, visit galway, visitors to ireland, Volvo Ocean Race, Waves, west of ireland
Work is expected to begin within the next week on demolishing giant oil storage tanks at Galway docks which are regarded by visitors and locals alike as an eyesore in the city centre. The demolition has been accelerated to ensure that Galway puts its best foot forward for the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in the city next month. Up to 150,000 visitors are expected to head to the western capital for the event, which takes place between May 23 and June 6 and which will have a television audience of 1.8 billion. The removal of the 11 tanks will facilitate a massive Volvo Ocean Race tented village which will be constructed along the dockside, allowing maximum viewing access for the expected massive crowds. The stopover is expected to generate a spend in the region of €40m across the wider Galway area, with the Government, under the aegis of Failte Ireland, stumping up €8m to promote the event.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Galway, Galway Bay, galway tourism, Irish Tourism, Oceans, Sailing, tourism galway, travel, visit galway, visitors to ireland, Volvo Ocean Race
Volvo Ocean Race Galway
After months of prolonged negotiations it was finally announced this week that the oil tanks on the Docks will be removed in time for the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race in May. The decision paves the way for the Galway Volvo Ocean Race Village to be included as originally planned on the site of the tanks, ensuring a connection between the village and Eyre Square via Victoria Street.
Making the announcement Galway Harbour Master, Brian Sheridan said he was delighted to see that all parties involved had finally reached a decision. Work on the decommissioning of the tanks in due to begin in the very near future and the expected month of work should be completed in plenty of time for the arrival of the tented village from Rio de Janeiro on Monday 11 May. According to Topaz, who will manage the decommissioning of the tanks, the work should be completed by the end of April allowing the race village be constructed in ample time.
Filed under: Ireland, Places, Volvo Ocean Race, tourism | Tags: failte ireland, Galway, galway ireland, Irish Tourism, visit galway, visitors to ireland, Volvo Ocean Race
Green Dragon Volvo Ocean Race
Green Dragon Volvo Ocean Race team hopes to leave a greater awareness of Ireland among the Chinese in its wake. China is set to become the world’s most important tourist industry in the next few years and this is one of the reasons why the Irish have put so much effort into publicity here in Qingdao.
With China set to become the largest outbound travel market, this kind of event gives you great exposure. On the night the Green Dragon arrived, it was the Green Dragon that everyone here was interested in.
Bono visited the boat with his brother Norman Hewson in Alicante, but U2 lookalikes with huge papier mache heads greeted the crowds at the hall in Qingdao, which was full of Chinese people eating Irish food supplied by Good Food Ireland, and entertainment by Arcana from Galway.
“Our concept is all about giving a real flavour of Ireland so that’s why we had the food and the personalities behind the food,” said Gorman.
Ireland’s profile in China received a significant boost during the Chinese New Year TV show on CCTV, which is the most watched TV show in the world with hundreds of millions of viewers.
The “CCTV Spring Festival Gala” featured Riverdance, the first time a foreign group had featured so prominently on the show, and the whole country is talking about how the Irish troupe high-stepped its way into the Year of the Ox. In fact, Riverdance has replaced Roy Keane as the thing about Ireland most people in China know about, distracting attention away from the tainted pork scandal of recent months.
“I don’t know much about Ireland. Irish dancing is very famous, but after this event I know a bit more. If I had an opportunity I’d love to visit,” said Zhang Huizhen, from Qingdao.
Snow Qu, who works for the electronics group Philips in Qingdao, said she was a big fan of Guo. And is also a big fan of the brown bread and jam on offer.
“The food is great. If we could go to Ireland, we’d go,” she said.
The Green Dragon, which is fourth in the race rankings, and the other boats are expected to arrive in Brazil on March 20th. Fáilte Ireland received €8 million from the Government to build a marina in Galway to receive the Volvo Ocean Race teams when they arrive, and also to sponsor the Green Dragon itself.
Official figures released by the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation showed a fall in the number of trips made to Ireland in January reports Galway Tourism. Overseas visitors made 437,000 visits in the month, down almost 4,000 on the same month last year. There were small drops in the numbers coming from Britain and North America, while the figure for continental Europe held up. But there was a 4.5% fall in visits from other areas. It is widely believed that Ireland’s reputation as an ‘expensive destination’ was becoming well established.
Trips abroad by Irish residents were 548,400 in January, up 11% on a year earlier.
Filed under: Ireland, tourism | Tags: Irish Tourism, Sailing, Volvo Ocean Race
Galway will be the stopover for the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race following the Irish Government’s agreement to make funding available to help bring the race to Ireland for the first time according to galwaytourism.ie. Race organisers welcomed the Irish commitment of up to eight million Euros to secure the stopover.
The race schedule is as follows – after the Alicante start, the race moves to Cape Town, has a 10-day halt at Kochi, and sails to Singapore, Qingdao (China), Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Goteborg and Stockholm before the St. Petersburg finish.
Race organisers are predicting a possible 24-hour speed record between Boston and Galway as the boats race along the Gulf Stream in the late spring of 2009. The race is considered as one of the most demanding sporting events in the world.
