 Arising from
some initial doubts as to Enniscorthy's ability to handle Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in
1999, the town proved itself well capable of handling such an international cultural
festival.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The attendance at Fleadh '99 exceeded the
estimates provided beforehand by previous organisers. Going on earlier occasions, the
local committee were expecting the total visitor numbers to be around 160,000/170,000,
based on information which they had received from other host towns.
However, most accurate estimates suggest that spectacular numbers of people attended the
Fleadh Cheoil. As with all outdoor events, it is difficult to quantify the exact numbers
of visitors but estimates from the Gardai would suggest that there were between 80,000 to
100,000 people in the town on each of both Saturday and Sunday. The estimate for Friday is
between 40,000 and 60,000 visitors. Certainly, the cumulative figure for the three days,
the Gardai believe, was easily in excess of 200,000. Enniscorthy Gardai have considerable
expertise in his regard, having been involved in major events over the past few years such
as Le Tour de France en Irlande 1998, 1798 Bi-Centenary Celebrations and the National
Ploughing Championships in 1994 and 1998. The attendance at the Ploughing Championships is
easier to quantify as entry to this event is through 'turnstiles' and the Gardai are
confident in their belief that the numbers attending the Fleadh were well in excess of the
150,000 who would regularly attend the 3-day ploughing event.
These figures are confirmed by Comhaltas Árd Comhairle members and Árd Stiúrhtóir
Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú.. Regular Fleadh observers, their estimate is that the
attendance was up at least 30% on the usual 160,000 expected to attend.
All the empirical data available to the Fleadh Committee would seem to support the above
claims:
Ø Attendance at competitions up by 25%
Ø Sale of programmes up by 33%
Ø Attendance at concerts & ceilithe up by 25%
Ø Overall Fleadh revenue from activities, with no price increases on
previous years, up by 36%
While better organisation and financial control could explain some of these increases, the
best and most likely explanation for this positive variance has to be a visitor volume
increase of at least 30%. With a normal increase of 12/15% for a town hosting the Fleadh
for the second time, the organisers have been told to expect an increase closer to 20% for
August 2000, bringing the total figures for visitors to the town to nearly quarter of a
million people for the whole week. |
