Displaying items by tag: MV Marco Polo

Q: Give examples of marine leisure tourism?

Sports: sailing, surfing, diving and fishing Heritage: Unesco coastal villages, archaeological sites of interest, biospheres and historical points of interest Arts: coastal museums, art galleries, museums, wrecks Education: Eco-tourism, field courses, NGOs. Food: Seafood restaurants, Seafood festivals

27th September 2017

Long-Range Medevac For Sligo Coastguard Helicopter From Cruise Liner ‘Marco Polo’

Rescue 118, based in Sligo, was tasked for the long-range medevac some 190 miles west of Erris Head this morning

#Coastguard - The Sligo-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 118 conducted a medevac for a passenger on board the cruise liner Marco Polo this morning (Wednesday 27 September).

Malin Rescue Coordination Centre received an early morning request from the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), who requested the Irish Coast Guard to assume coordination of the operation.

The rendezvous with the ship took place around 190 miles west of Erris Head shortly before 8.30am. Rescue 118 was expected to arrive with the casualty at University Hospital Galway before midday.

An Air Corps Casa maritime patrol aircraft was made available to provide communications and surveillance back up, known as ‘top cover’ but had to be redeployed to conduct two separate patient transfers to UK on foot of a request from the National Ambulance Service. This role was reassigned to the Dublin-based coastguard helicopter Rescue 116.

Weather conditions at the time were described as reasonable.

Published in Coastguard

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Bantry Bay's Double Role on Display

#CRUISE LINERS – Cruise & Maritime Voyages Marco Polo (1965/22,080grt) anchored off scenic Glengariff today and also sharing Bantry Bay is the tanker Amundsen Spirit (2010/109,290dwt), writes Jehan Ashmore.

The 800-passenger Marco Polo had sailed from Cork and the veteran vessel by coincidence has a deck named Amundsen Deck (etc).

The authority responsible for shipping traffic is Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners, where the seasonality of the cruise callers visiting West Cork is offset by the year-round business of tankers.

Large tankers can be handled in the deep waters off the Bantry Bay Terminal on Whiddy Island. However the terminal has no jetty facilities, instead tankers use the single-point mooring (SPM) a buoy that is anchored offshore. This system also performs in unloading cargo that is transferred through pipes feeding into the tank farm located on the island.

The tugs Ocean Bank and Trojan were attending the Amundsen Spirit (249m long X 44m beam X 14.6m draft), noting at the bow she a structure to facilitate the SPM operations.

Published in Cruise Liners

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Cruise Caller Line-Up for Galway Harbour

#CRUISE LINERS- Galway Harbour can look forward to welcoming nine cruise calls to the mid-west port this year, with the first visitor being Arion which is scheduled to arrive in Galway Bay during late May, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Arion harks back to an era of the more classically designed ships with graceful sweeping lines. The 5,888 tonnes veteran vessel was launched in 1965 at Pula, in Croatia, as Istra and later in her career she underwent a major reconstruction in a Lisbon shipyard during 2000.

Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) will be sending their Marco Polo, another classic veteran, in July as part of a 12 night 'Emerald Isle' discovery cruise departing Tilbury, with en-route calls to Cobh and Glengariff the previous day.

For a full listing of the cruise-calls schedule click HERE.

Published in Cruise Liners

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Marine Leisure & Aquatic Tourism

Domestic coastal tourism expenditure was approximately €698 million in 2018, while domestic marine tourism generated €381 million.

Activities such as walking/ running along the coast, swimming and beach visitations are among the most popular activities for domestic visitors on both day and overnight trips.

While participation rates in pursuits such as bird and wildlife watching in coastal areas and visiting nature reserves, etc. in coastal areas were lower, these activities did see the highest frequency of both day and overnight trips for those active in these activities.

According to the National University of Galway (NUIG) research the average expenditure per coastal day trip in 2018 was calculated at €95. The equivalent for coastal overnight trips was €310. The estimated water-based activity expenditure per person per trip across the sample was €56 rising to €73 for the subsample that actually undertake waterbased activities on their coastal visits. The results also indicate that domestic tourists undertake the majority of their marine activities on the West and South coasts of Ireland and that there are notable differences in participation rates across age groupings, social classes and by family makeup.

A domestic tourist is defined in this report as a person who spends at least one night away from home on their trip. Total expenditure by domestic tourists in coastal areas was estimated to be €698 million in 2018, which represents 35% of the total expenditure by domestic tourists (using the broader Fáilte Ireland measure for domestic tourists that includes business trips equating to 10.92 million in total trips and €2,006 million in total revenue).

The marine-related activity expenditure, or what might truly be referred to as domestic marine tourism, is estimated to generate revenue of €381 million with €172 million being spent on water-based activities. Marine tourism makes up an estimated 19% of total domestic tourism expenditure.

Marine Leisure Tourism - FAQ

What is marine leisure tourism?

Coastal tourism refers to land-based and water-based tourism activities taking place on the coast for which the proximity to the sea is a condition including also their respective services. Coastal and Marine Tourism & Leisure are seen as one of the Blue Economy (BE) sectors that can help unlock the potential of multi-use of space at sea by engaging with Blue Growth (BG) sectors such as Aquaculture and Marine Renewable Energy among others.

Give examples of marine leisure tourism?

Sports: sailing, surfing, diving and fishing Heritage: Unesco coastal villages, archaeological sites of interest, biospheres and historical points of interest Arts: coastal museums, art galleries, museums, wrecks Education: Eco-tourism, field courses, NGOs. Food: Seafood restaurants, Seafood festivals

What marine leisure tourism studies have been conducted in Ireland?

NUI Galway carried out a survey of domestic residents in Ireland in 2019 as part of a survey entitled "Valuing and understanding the dynamics of Ireland's Ocean Economy". The purpose of the household survey was to profile the domestic market for single-day trips (leisure) and overnight trips (tourism) for coastal and marine-related activities in Ireland. The results of the survey are also used to estimate what proportion of an Irish resident's total domestic tourism expenditure is in coastal areas (coastal tourism) and what proportion is spent on undertaking marine-related activities (marine tourism).

What were the results of the NUI marine leisure tourism study?

The NUI results highlight the important contribution that Ireland's marine and coastal resources make to the leisure experiences of the general population and the importance of the domestic tourism market to local coastal economies. The analysis indicates that domestic coastal tourism expenditure was approximately €698 million in 2018, while domestic marine tourism generated €381 million. Activities such as walking/ running along the coast, swimming and beach visitations are among the most popular activities for domestic visitors on both day and overnight trips. While participation rates in pursuits such as bird and wildlife watching in coastal areas and visiting nature reserves, etc. in coastal areas were lower, these activities did see the highest frequency of both day and overnight trips for those active in these activities. Satisfaction with the available marine-related leisure facilities was also found to be very high across all activities.