Extreme sports festival set to arrive in the city
Thousands of fans are heading to Swansea next month — for a major extreme sports event.
The British Kite Surfing Association launches their championship tour Kiteival 09 in the city, featuring more than 200 competitors.
And organisers say it could be the first of many visits to Swansea.
Kiteival organiser Steve Parrot said: "As soon as we came to Swansea, we knew it would be perfect for Kiteival — it has a great beach area and good facilities in the city centre," he said.
"In fact, we were quite surprised to learn events on this kind of scale had not happened often in Swansea before.
"We would love it to become a regular thing."
Kite surfing, hailed as one of the fastest growing water sports in the world, is conducted on open areas of water with boarders hitting speeds between eight and 50 knots.
For more on this story, read Friday's Evening Post.
THE Post has long championed the cause of tourism and we make no apologies for wanting a return to the days of the Wales Tourist Board when there was a sustained and organised approach to the business.
As a city and country we cannot afford to lag behind other parts of the UK when it comes to attracting holiday-makers. We have too much to lose.
That said, we are rubbing our hands with glee over the announcement that Kiteival 09 will be setting its stall out in Swansea Bay with hundreds of entrants and thousands of supporters gracing our beautiful shores.
8 Comments
by Steve, Mayals, Swansea
Saturday, April 11 2009, 11:15AM
“Thanks Dale. You just proved Steve's and my point why Swansea will never become an international city. By the way, you forgot to moan about possible beach restrictions on the days of the events - not to mention noise pollution from the boats. Ebeneezer Scrooge would have just loved this city.”
by Dale, Swansea
Friday, April 10 2009, 11:01PM
“YAY thousands more people to add to the already congested roads.
Tourism is a great thing but our roads can't handle thousands more people.”
by Phil, west cross
Friday, April 10 2009, 9:33PM
“I'm not complaining, far from it. If someone can tell me when it is I'll be there with my family having a great free day out.”
by anon, swansea
Friday, April 10 2009, 7:58PM
“hope they clean up the beach before all these visitors come and sweep all the sand off the promenade.”
by I, Secondit, Swansea
Friday, April 10 2009, 4:05PM
“Great news for Swansea.
This would be a fantastic spectacle for the public to observe from the top of the new Slip Bridge when they replace it to the abutments .”
by Steve, Mayals, Swansea
Friday, April 10 2009, 3:48PM
“I fully endorse Steve from Uplands' comments. Swansea has amazing potential to be a major tourist centre, but there is so little effort made to promote the city. Furthermore, Swansea does seem to suffer more than its fair share of whiners. As Steve says, as soon as people get wind of this event there will be complaints about everything from not being able to use the beach to noise from the boats keeping someone's hubby from his afternoon nap. .”
by anon, anon
Friday, April 10 2009, 3:26PM
“best bit is that we get to showcase our best asset (in my opinion), our beautiful beach!
Good luck to the organisers and I hope the local hoteliers and other business people help make this a great success.”
by Steve, Uplands
Friday, April 10 2009, 1:20PM
“The Ep are right. Tourism in Swansea is completely neglected. With a smartened up city centre and the sea-front so close, I don't see how Swansea can fail to attract tourist. Other UK cities have less to offer but make a great job of attracting visitors. Swansea has what many other cities can only dream of, but doesn't seem to want to attract anyone. I think it's a combination of an amateur council and residents who are always moaning. Whenever something interesting is suggested, all we get is complaints from most residents. I'm surprised that someone hasn't already complained that they won't be able to use the beach while the event is going on.”