· For all the family - street theatre performances in the Race Village and on the Green Dragon route by Arcana, Buí Bolg, Luxe and Tumble Circus, a Promenade Beach Party, Lá Gaeilge, Galway Community Circus, the Volvo Ocean Race experience including the simulator, model boat racing, the grinder challenge and the Dome, air display by the Red Arrows and two world record attempts.

· For concert goers - free concerts by the Hothouse Flowers, Sharon Shannon, Aslan, The Stunning, Kila, The Coronas, Lucia Evans and lots more...

· For art lovers - trail with 18 exhibitions around the city with a maritime theme including exhibitions and talks at Galway City Museum.

· For food lovers - the best of West of Ireland food at the Race Village and a good variation of cuisine on offer throughout restaurants in the city.

· For sailors- see the might of the Volvo Open 70's up close and your chance to see some of the world's leading ocean sailors. Take the PUMA Mast Challenge. Participate in some fringe sailing events such as the GB09 Cruiser Championships and junior sailing events. View traditional boat racing on Galway Bay.

· For school children - visit Galway on your school tour and visit the Galway Atlantaquarium

Full programme details available on www.galwayvolvooceanrace.com

Today Monday 06 April Galway Volvo Ocean Race unveiled their plans for two action-packed weeks of sailing, music, spectacle, culture and craic from 23 May to 06 June 2009.

The Galway Volvo Ocean Race Festival will be the biggest free festival ever to be hosted in Ireland and an expected 200,000 people are expected to visit Galway during the two week festival. Fáilte Ireland on behalf of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism are the principal sponsors of the Galway stopover and supported the bid for the Volvo Ocean Race to come to Galway.

The Volvo Ocean Race only stopover in Ireland and the UK is Galway.

Commenting today, Martin Cullen, T.D. Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism said: ‘I am delighted that we have attracted such a high profile event to Ireland, the largest international sporting event for Irish tourism since the Ryder cup in 2006. Through the efforts of Fáilte Ireland at home and Tourism Ireland abroad, the maritime city of Galway, as part of the global network of the Race's ocean ports, is set to provide a fortnight of festival events during the stopover of what is the world's premier sailing event. This festival programme, which includes a number of traditional and contemporary cultural events, will showcase Ireland's unique tourism offering to Galway visitors, both from home and abroad.'

The fleet of Volvo Open 70 yachts will arrive in Galway Bay the weekend of 23/24 May to be greeted by a traditional Irish welcome of bonfires on the coastline, a drumming and pyrotechnic fanfare as they cross the finish line at Mutton island and a hearty feed of Irish produced food as they complete leg 7 from Boston in the Volvo Ocean Race which commenced in Alicante, Spain in October 2008.

The Volvo Ocean Race is the premier race for professional crews around the world and this event is ranked as the sixth biggest sporting event in the world which is viewed by 1.8 billion people worldwide. When the fleet reaches Galway the boats and their crew will have endured 8 months at sea and over 35,000 nautical miles in temperatures ranging from -5 to +50 degrees Celsius in a cramped carbon fibre boat. The sailors will have put themselves under the same level of mental and physical duress as a soldier on the front line of a war zone - at times 2,500 miles from the nearest landfall, contending with mountainous seas, 70 knot winds, and the constant pounding of the waves.

Galway has been preparing for 18 months to host a worldclass festival to welcome this prestigious sporting event to Ireland. The event will officially open on Sunday 24 May with a spectacular opening ceremony sponsored by Galway City Council at 10pm. The opening ceremony will be produced by Arcana who have previously presented the opening ceremonies for the Special Olympics 2003 and the Ryder Cup 2006. The production will also feature a performance by Frankie Gavin who has performed at numerous State events during his career such as President John F. Kennedy's historic visit to Ireland in 1962, and visits by French President Francois Mitterand and Great Britain's Prince Charles.

The Volvo Ocean Race started in Spain in October 2008 and visited new ports in this edition of the race including a new route through Asia taking in the ports of Cochin in India, Singapore and Qingdao in China. After China the fleet sailed to Rio de Janeiro via Cape Horn and the infamous Southern Ocean where Galway's entry Green Dragon was the only yacht to encounter icebergs.

After Rio de Janeiro the fleet will race to Boston arriving 27 April. Tourism Ireland, the organisation responsible for promoting the island of Ireland overseas as a holiday destination will capitalise on the Volvo Ocean Race in this key market for tourism by hosting a range of trade, consumer and publicity initiatives.

‘Tourism Ireland has undertaken a major international marketing programme to fully capitalise on the tourism business potential emanating from the Galway stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race in May. This event attracts huge publicity around the world and is an ideal opportunity for Tourism Ireland to showcase Galway, water sports in Ireland, and more generally the many attractions that the island of Ireland has to offer as a holiday destination.' stated Paul O'Toole, CEO, Tourism Ireland.

After Galway the fleet will race to Marstrand and Stockholm, Sweden before finishing the race in St Petersburg, Russia at the end of June 2009.

Some of the logistics include marshalling up to 500 vessels on the water to welcome and say farewell to the race with the assistance of 40 official RIBS (rigid inflatable boats), provision of almost 1km of pontoons for berthing boats, 2,000 metres of cabling for the village and 1,000 metres of fencing. The organizers of the event, Let's Do It Galway have been working with the Galway Harbour Company to ensure the success of the on water logistics.

Éamon Bradshaw, CEO of Galway Harbour Company stated ‘We are delighted to be part of the Galway Volvo Ocean Race Stopover. Galway Harbour Company are working with Let's Do It Galway to host a fun packed fortnight of sea and land based events for Galwegians and tourists alike and to ensure the safety of all in the bay area over the two week event.'

It is anticipated that Galway will attract up to 200 International media and will be an ideal opportunity to showcase the best of Ireland as a tourism destination. The visiting journalists will include a group of 30 travel journalists from around the world hosted by Failte Ireland. As part of the media programme there will be 100 hours of helicopter flight time over Galway Bay for photojournalists and broadcast media.

Chairman of ‘Let's do it Galway' John Killeen said "We are proud to be hosting a global sporting event such as the Volvo Ocean Race which will be watched by a worldwide audience of over 1.8 billion. Let's do it Galway has been working with Fáilte Ireland and the local administrative and State agencies - Galway City Council, Galway Harbour Company and Fáilte Ireland West to make the visit of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 the most successful free sporting event in the history of the State".

The key weekends for the festival are the arrivals (23-24 May), the inport racing weekend with viewing from Salthill Promenade (30-31 May) and the departures on Saturday (06 June).

Full festival details are available at www.galwayvolvooceanrace.com where you will also get up to the minute information on the arrivals of the yachts over the weekend of 23/24 May.