Cruise ships may accommodate Ocean Race crowds

Date Published: 15-Mar-2010

BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM, The Connacht Sentinel

Demand for hotel rooms in Galway could be so great during the Volvo Ocean Race ‘grand finale’ in 2012, that the hotel industry is considering docking a 1,500 cabin cruise liner in Galway Port, the Sentinel can reveal.

With up to 50,000 corporate guests alone expected to travel to Galway in June 2012 for the final leg of the race, significant pressure is expected on the 5,500 hotel rooms in the city and county.

And if the Galway Harbour Company are granted planning permission for a new commercial dock further out to sea as an initial phase in their plans to develop the new Galway Port, cruise liners could be able to dock there.

Paul Gill, Chairman of the Irish Hotels Federation told the Sentinel: “We should be well-positioned to cater for requirements in Galway, but connectivity and a good Traffic Management Plan during the Ocean Race are very important elements.

“There are 5,500 rooms in the city and county, a further 2,500 in Limerick and 1,000 in Athlone. Road connectivity is important and the new motorway is very important. Overall, that’s 10,000 in the greater western area.

“If there was pressure on demand, we could hire in a cruise liner, with 1,500 cabins to dock here. We would not let capacity be an issue. It was done in Wales for the Rugby World Cup in 2007, where two cruise liners moored for three weeks. It would be possible to do it here, but we would need a year run-in to organise the logistics.

“But the new Port would need to be built to make it a reality. There’d be no point in mooring a liner in the Bay and having runners sailing in and out to it. I don’t think capacity will be an issue, but if it was, a liner would be a no-brainer,” said Mr Gill.

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