triAthlone to deliver significant economic windfall

This weekend"s triAthlone is expected to generate some €3.5m for the local economy, as hotels report being booked out or close to capacity for the weekend. Athlone Chamber of Commerce has carried out analysis that reveals that €3.5m will be generated by this year"s event, although Chamber CEO Siobhan Bigley has said this week that this may be a conservative estimate. 'The figure is based on a detailed analysis I did with the triAthlone committee, but I think they are conservative estimates, we picked everything conservatively,' she said. Ms Bigley added that many of the town"s hotels, B&Bs and self-catering accommodation were booked out ahead of this weekend"s triAthlone and triFest. 'It"s very much the entertainment and night time activities that will benefit, and a little shopping, it"s very good for the town and it"s bringing national publicity,' said Ms Bigley. 'Hopefully people will have a good experience and young people will grow up with memories of Athlone.' She added that she hopes people will come out and support the event and the athletes at the weekend. Hotels locally have experienced increased demand in the run-up to the event, with many of the hotels booked out or near full capacity for the weekend. Commercial Director of the Hodson Bay Hotel Group Garry Walsh said this week that both the Hodson Bay Hotel and the Sheraton Hotel had experienced increased bookings. He said the Sheraton was completely booked out and while the Hodson Bay was not quite at capacity just yet, he expected it to be fully booked by the weekend. He said triAthlone was a great event and appeared to be capturing people"s imaginations. Mr Walsh added that events such as this, the Community Games and the RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival brought large crowds to Athlone and said even in a recession with events such as this one people tended to save and make sure they came along for the weekend. He added that the Sheraton Hotel will be the headquarters for the European Triathlon Finals in Athlone next year and, as was the case with the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway this year, he expected it would benefit the hotel and the town over a few weeks and not just during the main event. 'It"s an amazing achievement for the triAthlone team and I expect it will be something we"ve never seen the likes of before in Athlone,' said Mr Walsh. The Athlone Springs Hotel is also fully booked this weekend and a spokeswoman said that even though the hotel is located outside the town centre it has certainly benefited from triAthlone and said it was great for the hotel and the town and hopefully people would return to Athlone after the event. The Prince of Wales is almost booked to capacity and has also experienced increased bookings ahead of triAthlone. Paddy McCaul of The Shamrock Lodge Hotel said that while the hotel is always busy at weekends with weddings, bookings were also up there for this weekend and he said the hotel was supportive of the event.