VOLVO BOOSTS LOCAL ECONOMY BY 100 MILLION EURO

Date Published: 09-Jul-2012

Local organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race finale say the 9 day festival is likely to have generated over 100 million euro for the region's economy.

Official spectator figures for the first eight days of the event show there were over 820 thousand visits to events at the festival.

It's expected that the full 9 day figure will show over 900 thousand visits were made to the harbour side race village and the Global Village arena in the Claddagh.

Meanwhile, the RNLI say weeks of pre-planning by search and rescue organisations has resulted in a safe and succesful festival, with no casualties or serious accidents reported during the week.

Chamber of Commerce President Declan Dooley says Galway will need help from the State if the Ocean Race is to return