Races to trigger €60m boost for the Galway economy

Date Published: 22-Jul-2010

By Dara Bradley

The organisers of the Galway Races Summer Festival are hopeful that attendances at this year’s flagship event will hold steady, with early bookings indicating around 170,000 punters could flock to Ballybrit next week.

Last year just over 140,000 people passed through the turnstiles over the seven days of the festival with a further 30,000 or more in the free and funfair area adjacent to the tunnel opposite the stand.

And local businesses will be hoping the annual injection of an estimated €60 million or more into the local economy will hold this year as well.

Galway Racecourse Manager, John Moloney, told the Galway City Tribune that bookings so far for this meeting, which starts on Monday, are “strong” and on a par with last year.

Online sales have been strong and bookings over the counter and through brochures have also been steady over the past few weeks, he said.

“Ticket sales are on a par with this time last year. Thursday Ladies Day is again the most popular followed by the Wednesday (Galway Plate Day) and Friday. I think it was 42,000 who were here for Ladies Day last year an

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune