Event weekend nets £9.3m for city's economy

Researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University have calculated that visitors to the launch of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and the Freedom music festival, held over one weekend last September, spent an average of 41.96 per person each day.

The population of the city more than doubled as 150,000 visitors flocked to the city centre for the two-day music and arts festival, held mainly in Queens Gardens, and the race launch from Hull Marina on Sunday, September 13.

The findings have delighted tourism chiefs in the city, and vindicated the controversial decision to close the A63 at Castle Street, the main route through Hull, for most of the weekend to make the centre pedestrian-friendly.

The chief executive of Visit Hull and East Yorkshire, Janet Reuben, said: "The Freedom and Clipper weekend was spectacular and has shown this city the enormous capacity it has to host world-class festivals.

"The unprecedented success of the events, in both attracting visitors to the region and supporting local businesses, has created a strong feelgood factor that will make future festivals even better."

The research found people had travelled from Australia, Germany, Iraq and Iran.

Almost every room at city hotels was taken, and businesses in the service industry reported a three-fold increase in trade. An extra 9,000 people visited St Stephen's shopping centre.

The events were also believed to have helped sell two apartments in Freedom Quay, which overlooks the Marina.

Regional development agency Yorkshire Forward began a 2.8m two-race sponsorship of one of the yachts in 2007.

Its entry, Hull & Humber, is aiming to go one better than the second-placed finish achieved during the last staging of the biennial race.

Last August it was estimated associated spin-offs from the race alone would generate about 15m for the wider region.

About 5m of this would come through business deals secured through Clipper-related trade missions around the world, and about 4m worth of advertising through race media coverage.

Hull & Humber was the most-watched yacht in the 2007/08 event, a global audience of 75 million tracking its progress through the Clipper website and other sources.

Preparations are under way for the return of the 10-strong Clipper fleet for the race's finale in the Humber on July 17. Hull's participation in the event is the first time a host port has been on the East Coast.

The assistant director environment, tourism and rural renaissance at Yorkshire Forward, Andy Tordoff, said: "This evaluation confirms the phenomenal effect Freedom and Clipper has had so far; I am looking forward to seeing what the full impact of the 2009-10 race will be on the visitor economy of our region."

Last week, the only surviving business in Humber Street, the centre of Hull's rundown former fruit market, called for a proposed relocation of arts-based companies to the area to be carried out in time for the yachts' return in July.

All at sea for 35,000-mile race

THE Clipper Round the World Yacht Race was founded in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail solo, non-stop around the globe.

The current 2009/10 race is the seventh staging of the biennial event, which sees 10 identical, 68-foot yachts – each sponsored by international cities and regions – battle it out over 35,000 miles of ocean racing.

The 10-month event is the only global yacht race for non-professional sailors, and pits amateur crews, who receive basic training, against one another, although each boat is led by a professional skipper.

The race is divided into individual legs and races with points accumulated according to individual race positions. The yacht with the highest total at the finish wins the overall race.

Tens of thousands of people lined the banks of the Humber to watch the opening stages of the latest race in September, when almost 200 novice sailors set off for the French port of La Rochelle.

The 2009/10 route takes the fleet to countries including Brazil, South Africa, the United States, Ireland and Australia.