Massive Goodbye For Tall Ships

The Tall Ships have now left Belfast after a hugely successful event.

Everything looks positive - even though the departure of the 40 international ships from the four-day Belfast Maritime Tall Ships Festival brought traffic chaos to Sunday afternoon around the shores of Belfast Lough. Traffic in Newtownabbey came to a halt on many roads – with a section of motorway shut for a period as traffic gridlocked - as tens of thousands of spectators jockeyed for viewing position along both Co Down and Co Antrim.

Thousands lined the seaside along Hazelbank (pictured here) and Jordanstown as they came to see the majestic vessels sail away after their second visit to Belfast in 18 years.

The Parade of Sail, along with attendant smaller boats which cruised the Lough to say farewell alongside fire-tender vessels - which used their powerful pumps to gush water arcing into the skyline - was the finale of a hugely successful event.

Belfast city council estimated that 250,000 people lined the Antrim and Down coasts of the Lough and Festival organisers said 800,000 people overall visited the Tall Ships from Thursday to Sunday.

"The visitor figures truly are beyond our wildest expectations," said Mayor of Belfast Naomi Long.

"The Tall Ships truly have put Belfast firmly on the map as a city more than capable of organising and hosting world class events, and I would like to congratulate everyone involved in this hugely successful and memorable weekend," she said.

Organisers report that 150,000 people visited the Tall Ships on Thursday, 75,000 on Friday, 250,000 on Saturday and 25,000 yesterday morning, before the Parade of Sail, which itself was watched by an estimated 250,000 people along the Antrim and Down coasts of Belfast Lough.

At peak times, it is calculated that 3-400 people crossed the two main bridges across the River Lagan every minute.

The equivalent of half the population of Northern Ireland visited the Tall Ships during their four day stay in Belfast.

Organisers estimate that around 800,000 people crowded to the city’s docks for the biggest event ever staged on the island of Ireland.

This includes 100,000 holiday-makers who visited the city especially for the event - and a quarter of a million people believed to have watched the magnificent Parade of Sail out of Belfast Lough yesterday morning.

However, on Sunday, traffic chaos ensued. As well as the M5 motorway being shut for a time, traffic in Holywood, Helen's Bay and further out at the Loughshore at Jordanstown was also brought to a standstill.

The event cost £2.5 million to stage, with Belfast City Council being the biggest funder, contributing £1.1 million.

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board invested £500,000, a figure matched jointly by the two Stormont departments, DCAL and the DSD.

The remaining funding came from value-in-kind support from the Belfast Harbour Commission, commercial sponsorship and event income streams.

It is estimated that, in return, the event generated £10 million for the local economy, with one legacy being a new £1 million city centre marina, built for the event, in the shadow of the Odyssey complex.

The visiting Tall Ships themselves reported record numbers of visitors on board: The Portuguese Navy vessel, Sagres, for example, reported its biggest ever visitor numbers in a single day.

The event also was one of the safest of this scale ever staged. Around 180 police officers, almost 300 stewards, 45 fire service and 60 ambulance and first aid personnel were on hand each day to ensure the safety of all those attending.

The police made only two arrests, the fire service saved one French 24-year-old female naval officer and put out one minor litter bin fire, while only 0.02% of the visiting audience required medical attention – the national average is 0.5 to one per cent at large scale public events.

(BMcC/KMcA)