Displaying items by tag: New CorkSantander

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

29th April 2018

New Direct Ireland-Spain Service Delayed to Next Weekend

Connemara was originally to launch a new Ireland-Spain route (today) with an inbound sailing from Santander, however work on the ropax at Astander's yard, Santander (above) is underway to prepare the ferry fully. Instead a revised date of the inaugural outward crossing (from Cork) will be next Sunday, 6th May. The ferry will have an all-white livery and not the 'économie' branding blue wave scheme as depicted in the image posted on Afloat when the new service was announced in January.

#FerryNews - The new Cork-Santander route, the first ever direct ferry service connecting Ireland and Spain, originally scheduled to start today, has been delayed to next weekend, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Afloat had noted the change of sailings and confirmed with operator, Brittany Ferries which commented that Connemara’s entry into service has been slightly delayed in order to allow our technical teams at the Astander shipyard (in Santander) all the necessary time to prepare the ship fully.

Brittany Ferries added the new route's first sailing will now be at 12.00 on the Santander-Cork route on Sunday 6th May, a week later than scheduled. Afloat adds that the revised inaugural Cork-Santander sailing is scheduled for a departure at 11.00 on Wednesday, 9th May.

Afloat also highlights that the Irish-Iberian route operating to an 'économie' no-frills service does not take 'foot' passengers on the twice-weekly operated service.

In the interim period between the first inward bound sailing to Ireland and of the first outward sailing to northern Spain, Connemara is also scheduled to make a debut on the Cork-Roscoff route that this years celebrates a 40th anniversary. The 14 hour route since 2004 is operated by flagship Pont-Aven, providing cruiseferry services at weekends.

Connemara will also introduce new capacity on the Ireland-France link (in the lead up to Brexit) by operating a single weekday round trip. These additional sailings are also based on the économie' service and include 'foot' passengers unlike the Spanish service.

In what will be a historic occasion, the launch of the Connemara connecting Cork and Cantabrian city of Santander is a game-changer. The crossing taking around a day, brings benefits to tourism in both directions but also freight bypassing on Ireland-France links and avoiding the long distance drive south to Spain and Portugal.

As previously reported in January, the new continental route sees Brittany Ferries charter Connemara from Stena RoRo.

The previous charter of the 500 passenger/195 car /120 cabin ropax as the Asterion was to ANEK Lines on a Italy-Greece service, but the 27,415 gross tonnage ropax is no stranger to the Bay of Biscay. Then as Norman Asturias, the ropax operated GLD Atlantique (later LD Lines) St. Nazaire-Gijón route in recent years though no longer exists nor does the operators onward link to Ireland between St. Nazaire and Rosslare Harbour.

The 2007 Visentini shipyard built Asterion this week arrived from Greece to Santander for dry-docking and also be renamed Connemara. Another Irish connection is fastferry, Jonathan Swift which Irish Ferries sold. The high-speed craft (HSC) which when departing Dublin yesterday was understood to be renamed, Cecilia Payne arrived also in northern Spain this morning but further to the west in La Coruña, Galicia.

The en-route call of the Austal-Auto Express 86m catamaran, likely to be for bunkers, is to continue on a delivery voyage to the Mediterrranean. A new career for the craft beckons between Spain and the Balearic Islands.

Returning to Connemara, the Cypriot flagged 186m ropax is at Astander's No. 2 dry-dock in El Astillero (near Santander). Connemara becomes Brittany Ferries first vessel to be named with an Irish connection. Compared to the rest of the fleet that in the majority are named after scenic locations and towns in Brittany and neighbouring Normandy.

Connemara is not Brittany Ferries first 'économie' service as the concept was introduced in recent years on the Portsmouth-Le Havre route. This is one of the operators five services on the English Channel.

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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.