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VOLVO OCEAN RACE AT KOCHI |
Volvo Ocean Race stopover at Kochi
5 April, 2008
Come December 3, 2008, Kochi will
welcome the Volvo Ocean Racers to its
shores. The Volvo Ocean Race, dubbed
the most prestigious and spectacular
round the world marathon ocean yacht
racing competition, will for the first
time in its 35 year history stop over
in India. And that too at Kochi.
Aiming to showcase India and Kerala as
a hot vacation spot, the Cochin Port
Trust (CPT) and the Kerala Tourism
Department have joined hands and are
all set to roll out the red carpet.
The Volvo Ocean Race will call on
Kochi for a stopover of 10 days from
December 3 to 13, 2008, before it sets
sail to Singapore. The Volvo Ocean
Race, which will begin its
round-the-world marathon sailing in
October 2008 and cover more than
39,000 nautical miles, visiting 11
ports across the world would set sail
from Alicante in Spain. It would stop
over at Cape Town, Kochi, Qingdao in
China, Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway,
Goteborg and Stockholm, before
reaching the finishing line at
St.Petersburg, says the CPT. Seven
teams drawn from different countries
of the world like the US, Australia,
Brazil, Argentina, Holland, Sweden and
Spain have already confirmed their
participation in the Volvo Ocean Race.
Two more are expected to join the
line-up.
Kochi has already stepped on the gas
to gear up for the Volvo Ocean Race.
An amount upwards of Rs 30 crore would
be spent on improving infrastructure
facilities at the port city. Kerala
Tourism and CPT will also start
looking for sponsors who would put in
money for the smooth hosting of the
Kochi stopover of the race.
The Kerala hosts are planning mega
events to showcase Kerala as a much
sought-after destination. The arriving
Race Yachts will be accorded a grand
welcome in traditional Kerala style.
And there would be several group
activities involving school children;
national days of countries represented
by the countries featuring national
food, entertainment, dance programs,
weekend festivals, food festivals,
boat shows, traditional boat races,
stage shows and more.
It is expected that the racers, their
families who accompany them in
different vessels and business clients
of the various corporate sponsors will
get an opportunity to go around Kochi
and other parts of Kerala during their
10-day stop over in the Kochi port
city. More than just sport and
glamour, the Kochi stopover is
expected to serve as a platform for
business networking too, considering
that many of the sponsors would be
having business meets on the
sidelines.
The Volvo Ocean race is expected to
provide global brand exposure through
television, radio, newspapers,
magazines as well as other media
during the event.
Experts say that there would be
enormous opportunities for brand
exposure for India as well as Indian
products and services in the
international arena. A cumulative
television audience for the event is
estimated to be above 2 billion. The
Volvo Ocean race is expected to
elevate the image of Kochi and Kerala
as a vibrant leisure and lifestyle
destination.
Given that Kochi is the only Indian
stopover port-of-call for the Volvo
Ocean race that happens once in three
years, a surge in tourism is expected
in Kochi at the time.
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