Volvo festival finale will generate Û80m for city

Date Published: {J}

BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

The ‘grand finale’ of next year’s Volvo Ocean Race is set to generate an €80 million windfall for Galway, with more than 600,000 people expected to flock to the city.

And the Sentinel has learned that details are being finalised for a last minute joint Irish entry in the race, which gets underway at the end of October.

However, it will not be the Green Dragon – instead, the iconic racing yacht will be used as a promotional tool flying the Irish flag for the stopovers in Alicante, Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya (China), Auckland, Rio de Janeiro, Miami, Lisbon, Lorient and finally in Galway when the entrants arrive on July 3.

It’s understood that sponsorship details are being finalised at the moment which will secure a joint Irish entry in the event – it is likely to be a collaboration with the Chinese ‘Team Sanya’ which was launched last Friday.

An announcement on the joint entry – through Irish sponsorship of the team – will be made in the coming days.

A festival from June 28 to July 7, 2012 will see a huge scale ‘Global Village’ constructed at the Docks, as well as a structure at South Park and events in Salthill.

Details of the Ocean Race closing festival in Galway will be unveiled at a ‘Year to Go’ event in the Galway Bay Hotel in Salthill on Friday week.

John Killeen of Let’s Do It Global told the Sentinel: “We will be launching details of the Global Village, it will be a far bigger set-up than the Race Village last time around, about twice the size.

“This time, we’ll be taking space in South Park, and there will be a far bigger inclusion for Salthill.

“We’re expecting between 5,000 and 6,000 corporate guests alone. We’ve already established what Galway can achieve in terms of attracting people, last time, the publicity in the build-up to the event was quite slow. Now, we’re getting enquiries from around the world. It’s a no-brainer in terms of revenues,” said Mr Killeen.

He added that he could not comment on any possible negotiations for an Irish entry in the race.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinl.