2015-16 Race Partner Destination and Tourism Activation Highlights

163,000 visitors create positive economic impact

In what proved to be a record-breaking year for footfall at the Foyle Maritime Festival more than 163,000 visitors attended the Derry-Londonderry event. The Clipper Race fleet may have been the focal point during the festival, which was crowned Best Event/Festival Experience at the prestigious 2015 Northern Ireland Tourism Awards following the previous stopover, but the city went much further to showcase its assets to the global market in order to attract investment and return visitors.

Combining the maritime festival with an artisan food fayre and Music City weekend attracted visitors from a variety of backgrounds and multiple industries as everyone came together to sample food and crafts from hundreds of stalls and listen to live acts, while children were kept entertained in the Little Pirate zone.

The festival in numbers:

163,000 visitors
300 performers
92% hotel occupancy
86 local trade stands
60 water based activities for public participation
50 live music performances
18 live cookery demos
9 day festival
3 festival bars
2 Navy ships
1.5 mile long festival zone
1 grand finale event

Vietnamese city targets destination media in Sydney

Earlier in the race, Team Sponsor Da Nang - Viet Nam used the stopover in Sydney as an opportunity to showcase the destination to its primary target market, Australia, by delivering an interactive tourism seminar. The cultural and destination exhibit attracted over 60 companies from the Australian travel market, including travel writers and journalists from Tourism Australia, FlightCentre, Travel Marketing and Luxury Travel.

Key delegates were also invited to go sailing, enabling the officials from Da Nang to have critical 1:1 time to cement relationships and develop guests understanding of Da Nang as a destination further.

Qingdao showcases itself as the ‘Sailing City’ of China

The Qingdao stopover allowed the Chinese city to celebrate its 12 year relationship with the Clipper Race whilst also promoting its Olympic heritage and increasing awareness of the international facilities in ‘China’s Sailing City’. Networking events were hosted for over 200 businesses during the stopover alongside cultural and inspirational events for tourists.

Qingdao’s Olympic legacy continues to thrive by inspiring their younger generations with appearances from the Qingdao ambassador team, as well as the opportunity for over 900 children to get on board the yachts and meet crew members.

Read more here.

Focus on community engagement in Seattle

During the 12 day stopover, Visit Seattle demonstrated that its city is a thriving economic hub, major sporting destination and a stand out tourism destination on the West Coast of the United States. The city used the stopover to demonstrate to our international race crew the abundance of attractions it has to offer to visitors of all tastes, including Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, the Experience Music Project and the Gates Foundation.

Hosting the Clipper Race allowed the city to engage with both the business and local communities by organising multiple events which included representatives from the race speaking at some of its most prestigious venues and business clubs, including the Rotary Club of Seattle. Visit Seattle also hosted a Pro-Am Regatta to engage with business guests and future sponsors from the city. They spent the afternoon racing alongside sporting professionals such as former United States soccer team goalkeeper and ESPN analyst, Kasey Keller, whilst learning the ropes from our Race Skippers and crew.

Community engagement played a central part in the Seattle stopover with the local community joining Clipper Race crew members in a number of social activities and tours provided by the Host Port. The reach extended well beyond the immediate Seattle region with visitors travelling in from Florida, California, Texas, Oregon and Canada to learn more about the city and the Clipper Race.

Read more here.