Welcoming today’s report on the Economic and Media evaluation of Ireland’s participation in the Race that was published at the Morrison hotel in Dublin this morning, Minister for the Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr Martin Cullen TD said: “Today’s report confirms what we all saw over that great two week period - that the Volvo Ocean Race Stopover in Galway delivered in terms of visitors, revenue and impact. It provided a much needed boost to the local economy and was a great showcase for the West coast and Irish tourism. This successful event demonstrates the potential of sports tourism to attract widespread positive international media coverage as well as additional overseas visitors to Ireland, generating significant foreign revenue earnings for the Irish economy. The Government's support of €8 million towards the Galway Volvo Ocean Race stopover through Fáilte Ireland's International Sports Tourism Initiative, shows the Government's commitment to attracting high profile international sports events to this country."
An economic impact analysis delivered by Deloitte reported a significant economic impact of €55.8m, the highest recorded at a Volvo Ocean Race stopover port and comparable to the Race departure from Galicia, Spain in 2005 was achieved. This impact was 30% greater than projected figures from the advance report commissioned in 2007 despite the fact that spend per head estimates were lower than anticipated due to the economic climate. Spend of €36.5m by non-local spectators provided a real boost to the local tourism sector.
The Galway stopover was characterised by large daily attendances at the Race Village facilitated by a
festival offering over 100 free events for spectators in addition to the sailing activity. There were race village attendances of at least 30,000 on 6 days, three of which involved no racing activity.
In total there were 650,000 visits to the Race Village and Salthill during the stopover, 420,000 to the Village and 230,000 to Salthill during the inport and departure weekends. Almost 87,000 non-local visitors visited Galway during the event and a further 68,000 attendees were resident in the local region. On average local residents visited the Race Village 4.2 times. Over 90% of the local visitors had no active interest in sailing.
The introduction of a schools programme, a business supporter’s package and extensive volunteer programme generated extensive buy-in. In all 16,000 students joined the schools programme which an eight month campaign was combining educational materials distributed to schools, weekly lessons relating to the position of the race, a competition and visits to the race village. Around 10,000 children visited the Race Village as part of the schools programme whilst tens of thousands of other children visited the Village independently including many children who returned with family and friends.
Mr Redmond O’Donoghue, Chairman, Fáilte Ireland, today emphasised:
"The Volvo Ocean Race attracted the biggest audience for Irish tourism since the Ryder Cup in 2006. The stopover was the latest in a series of major world sporting events which we have attracted to Ireland under our International Sports Tourism Initiative and, indeed, when it comes to attracting such big name events, Ireland very much punches above its weight internationally.
“With 650,000 visits to Galway and a further total global audience of millions watching, the event provided extensive media coverage and a fantastic shop window to showcase Ireland as a versatile and high quality holiday destination. I very much believe that the success of the Volvo festival has further increased Ireland’s chances for hosting future world class sporting events and provided us with a template for future such festivals.”
Green Dragon, which was initially funded by a syndicate of Irish business people became the first bi-nation entry in the Volvo Ocean Race through sponsorship investment by three Chinese companies, SDLG, Weichai Power and Triangle Tyre. It was the only entry in the Race to boast two host ports Qingdao and Galway, both new stopovers to the Race, which added greatly to media coverage of the team. The team reported US$43m media coverage (TV, Print & online) during the campaign including 11,200 media items for partner sponsor www.discoverireland.com. Green Dragon as one of the lower budgeted teams in the Race achieved one of the highest return on investment.
Tourism Ireland used the unique marketing platform in a creative manner by hosting marketing promotions in a series of ports with consumer pavilions in stopovers such as Alicante, Capetown and Boston whilst trade and media events were hosted in other major markets including Qingdao, China.
At some of these destinations other state organizations such as Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA also used Ireland’s involvement in the Volvo Ocean Race as a networking opportunity. The Department of Foreign Affairs embraced the opportunity and Ambassadors and diplomats attended or hosted events at each of the stopovers.
At today’s launch Enda O’Coineen, Chairman Let’s Do It Global stated: ‘This project achieved more than just financial return. It is the story of how a project fired public imagination and inspired state and local bodies, businesses, groups and individuals to pull together for the common good in difficult economic circumstances to deliver a world class event with a lasting legacy’.
More significant is the intangible benefit that the project delivered to Ireland such as establishing a proven track record in hosting world class sporting events, the introduction of sailing to a new market particularly youth and the development of an international network for future projects.
At today’s report launch John Killeen, President Let’s Do It Global took the opportunity to thank all the individuals, volunteers, organizations and businesses who were involved in the development, promotion and management of the Galway Volvo Ocean Race and the Green Dragon Racing Team.
‘In particular we would like to thank the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and Fáilte Ireland for the foresight in committing to this project and for the day to day assistance leading up to and throughout the whole project.’ continued Killeen. ‘And to the people of Galway who lent their city to the Volvo Ocean Race, you can be proud of your achievement and may you reap the benefits of your investment for years to come. ‘
