Tall ships in Belfast

Cruise Passengers enjoy Tall Ships festival in Belfast

The equivalent of half the population of Northern Ireland visited the Tall Ships during their stay in Belfast from 13th to 16th August 2009.

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, including almost 2,500 cruise passengers and crew - and a quarter of a million people believed to have watched the magnificent Parade of Sail out of Belfast Lough.

Passengers and crew from cruise ships, Delphin, Spirit of Adventure and Saga Ruby which berthed in Belfast over the Festival were able to join in the Tall Ships celebrations with the thousands of locals and visitors who flocked to the city.

"The visitor figures truly are beyond our wildest expectations, with more than twice as many people attending the event as we originally had envisaged," said a delighted Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor 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 added.

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 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.

Organisers report that 150,000 people visited the Tall Ships on Thursday, 75,000 on Friday, 250,000 yesterday and 25,000 on Sunday 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 visiting Tall Ships themselves reported record numbers of visitors on board: The Portuguese Navy vessel, Sangres, for example, reported its biggest ever visitor numbers in a single day. The Energy Saving Trust Gateway to the Tall Ships, at Custom House Square, had more than 36,000 visitors on one day alone.