THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 5 April 2008 — The Cochin Port Trust has launched an exclusive website (www.volvoracecochin.com) for the Indian stopover of Volvo Ocean Race, the biggest yachting event in the world.
The world’s fastest racing yachts will reach Kochi on Dec. 3 and stay for 10 days to witness a visual extravaganza before starting the leg three of the race in Singapore.
Kochi is the only port of call of the race — one of the world’s most demanding and daring team-sporting events which is also called the Everest of Sailing — in India after it leaves Cape Town during its 39,000 nautical miles journey around the world, visiting 11 ports across the world before reaching the finishing line at St. Petersburg.
Some 250,000 race enthusiasts are expected to descend on the port city during the event, expected to be watched live by at least two billion viewers worldwide on television.
“This is going to be a historic moment for Kerala Tourism as well as the Queen of Arabian Sea. The event will help us make a strong presence in the world tourism map,” Kerala Tourism Secretary Dr. Venu V. said.
The race will start in Alicante, Spain, on Oct. 11 after a seven-day in-port race. Russian city of St. Petersburg will be finishing port in 10th edition of the race. This edition will feature 11 ocean legs, seven inshore races and shorter stopovers.
Seven boats, including Ericsson Racing Team (two boats), Puma Racing Team, Russian Challenge and Green Team, have already confirmed their presence in the race. The 2008-2009 Race will be tracked using a Race Management System developed by UK company Cybit’s maritime division.
The Cochin Port is setting up a Race Village which will be kept for tourists even after the race. “We have already started work on the 2.5-acre race village with a covered space of 10,000 sq. meters and an open space of 200,000 sq. meters on the Willingdon Island in Kochi,” CPT Chairman N. Ramachandran said.
The visitors will be entertained with local cuisines and cultural extravaganza. “The Kerala experience will be showcased for the sailors and tourists. This is going to be a people’s event. We’ll make sure that every section of the society is involved,” he said.
Cochin Port is in the process of building the necessary offshore and onshore infrastructure, including a Race Village to host the sporting as well as corporate events. The roads and civic amenities are being upgraded and consultations are being made with civic and government bodies, schools and academic institutions and leaders of industry and commerce about structuring and management of the events.
“The organizers have been in touch with us for the past two years to finalize this. In normal course, the organizers charge 10 million euros as fees from the port, but we have been exempted as the event is coming to India for the first time in its 35-year history,” he added.
The arrival of race teams at Cochin port coincides with peak tourism season in Kerala. The tourism authorities have also requested the Cochin airport to defer its decision to close its runway during daytime from November for re-carpeting, in view of the race.
In December, the city is expecting 250,000 visitors to watch the race, but there are no hotel rooms to accommodate them. To meet the expected demand, the port city is planning to set up a “Houseboat Village” on water, where the houseboats, called kettuvallams, will be parked in a row to accommodate at least 5,000 guests.
“We expect to mobilize at least 1,000 houseboats from wherever available to accommodate official delegates, mostly race officials and business leaders who are expected to clinch many deals here,” Chairman Ramachandran said.
The official race village which is being set up in Kochi, like the Formula One Paddock, will be open to the public. There will be a lot of cultural activities and hospitality in the village and chance for the general public to meet the sailors.
“The guests will interact with domestic visitors and there will be a lot of activities not only in Kochi but in the tourist locations of Alappuzha, Kottayam and Thrissur districts as well,” Ramachandran said.
There will be some 10 boats competing in the race and the organizers will provide boats for the media both during the arrival of the fleet and its departure.
Kochi is already witnessing arrivals of overseas yachts. It is likely to grow manifold during the race. There will also be large hospitality boats for guests and the general public.
The state’s Rs11.5 billion tourism industry is to benefit maximum from the race. The state’s economic benefit alone is estimated to be to the tune of Rs400 million from the race. The stopover will also attract a large number of international visitors and businessmen.
“The 10-day India stopover would also be a unique business opportunity, as several high-profile global corporate leaders as well as some of the world’s topmost brands and business houses that sponsor the competition boats and teams, would gather here to cheer their race teams,” Ramachandran said.
The race events are designed to enable the global corporate sponsors to hold networking conclaves with leaders of commerce and industry of the host country.
MobME Unveils Web-Based Alerts Tool
Kerala-based mobile media and entertainment start-up MobME Wireless Pvt Ltd., has announced the formal launch of web-based alerts tool FastAlerts.in for small and medium enterprises.
“The online tool allows businesses to send customized messages or alerts to 100, 1,000 or 100,000 people using SMS, e-mail or voice calls,” a company statement said. “This is the only multimodal platform that can send alerts using SMS, e-mail or voice calls”.
As the FastAlerts software is hosted online, users do not need to download any software. It can be accessed using any computer that has an Internet connection and is open to all operating systems, including Linux, Windows and Mac.
The service has been in the testing stage since November last year and there are over 4,500 users registered on the FastAlerts.in website. Organizations that use the service include the Trivandrum Press Club, Kerala Public Relations Department and Indian Oil.
To expand the reach of FastAlerts, the company plans to follow the reseller model where the complete platform is licensed to a company that wants to set up an SMS business, it added.
