GALWAY NOT SELECTED AS VOLVO FINALE HOST PORT

Date Published: 01-Feb-2013

Galway has NOT been selected as the finale host port for the next Volvo Ocean Race.

Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city, has been chosen for the 12th edition of the round-the-world yacht race which takes place in 2014-2015.

The last Volvo Ocean Race started in Alicante in Spain in October 2011 and finished with great fanfare in Galway last July.

Research conducted by NUIG showed the event gave the city a boost worth more than 60 million euro.

It also brought over half a million visitors here – 16 per cent of whom came from abroad.

2014-15 will be the third time Gothenburg has hosted the Volvo Ocean Race and the second time it has staged the finale, following the success of the 2005-2006 event.

Further port announcements are to be made over the coming weeks and it’s understood Galway is among 100 cities to register an interest.

The organisers had previously raised concerns over the not-for-profit funding structure under which it operated the last finale, which it said was unsustainable.

The company which organised the 2012 finale, Let’s Do It Global, has been left with bills of up to 450 thousand euro.

It’s now reported that it could be threatened with liquidation, after it admitted it is unlikely to be able to meet its financial commitments.