Winterval festival to provide €14m boost to Waterford in run-up to Christmas

Waterford's annual Winterval Festival will provide a major economic boost to the city through a €14 million yield to the local economy and the creation of 550 seasonal jobs in the run-up to Christmas, a new study has found.

The festival, which was launched on Friday night when Santa Claus turned on the Christmas lights, will feature 32 events in its five-week duration until December 23rd, and is expected to attract 300,000 visitors to Waterford – up from 250,000 last year.

According to the study, carried out by independent market research company Market Dynamics, parties attending the Winterval Festival last year spent an average of €98 per party on food and drink and festival tickets during their visit to the event.

This year’s festival features a Christmas market with 60 traditional log cabins.

In addition to the 550 seasonal workers employed in the various projects, the event is supported by some 250 volunteers.

Festival chairman Barry Monaghan said Winterval is the largest Christmas festival in the country and it has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2012.

Christmas experience

“From day one, the festival team wanted to deliver a Christmas experience which was on par with what is on offer across

Europe

. We believe that Winterval has achieved this and now continues to deliver new opportunities for our visitors,” he said.

Mr Monaghan said the study found 92 per cent of people surveyed who attended last year's event planned to return this year, while they were also happy to recommend Winterval to family and friends as a positive Christmas experience.

In previous years, Retail Excellence Ireland directly aligned the footfall to Waterford city during December to the shopping offering that was available through the festival.

“If visitors are inclined to spend even half what the average spend figure was in 2013, the city is on track for an economic impact of over €14 million and this will have a major impact for Waterford,” said Mr Monaghan.

Among the highlights is a giant block of ice that has been presented to the House of Waterford Crystal, where professional craftworkers will carve it into sculptures to be unveiled next Saturday at the Winterval Ice Rink on the quays.

For further information on events, see winterval.ie