Golf still a major driver for tourism players

Golf remains one of Ireland’s major attractions as the tourism industry looks to 2013 with a greater degree of optimism after a number of challenging years.

Research from Fáilte Ireland estimates that the typical overseas golf tourist is worth almost three times the value of the average tourist to Ireland, with 155,000 visitors playing the sport and yielding a total spend of €204m annually.

This level of expenditure supports over 7,300 jobs, with the bonus that golfing visitors are much more likely to be repeat customers.

Dan Flinter, chairman of the Fáilte Ireland Golf Forum, said: “In order to build on this, the Irish golf sector will not only have to continue to offer memorable experiences but also good value for money. Most encouragingly, the research shows that we are hitting the mark on both scores — with visitor satisfaction rates at 94% and value for money at 85%.”

While the industry continues to reach for the levels achieved five years ago, golf has been one of the quicker sectors to turn the corner. “We had very satisfactory years in 2011 and 2012,” says Jim O’Brien, general manager of the Old Head Golf Links in Kinsale.

“Historically most of our visitors came from the US and UK, but we now see traffic coming from mainland Europe and China. This year we had, for the first time, bookings from Turkey, and the Scandinavian market is also growing at a good pace.”

The international accomplishments of Irish golfers has helped in promoting Ireland as a premier destination, Mr O’Brien believes. “No doubt the success of all of our Major winners has helped raise the profile of Irish golf worldwide and not just the US. Our top courses compete with the best in the UK and EU for value and quality, and we continue to hear that a week’s golf in Ireland is considered the trip of a lifetime and the best experience of all.”

An example of regional initiative aimed at garnering a slice of this lucrative market is Club Choice Ireland, a new marketing body focused on attracting British visitors to courses in the south and east of Ireland.

The organisation features golf clubs, resorts, and hotels as part of its plan to attract upwards of €2m in golf spending to the region. The 26 trade partners have embarked on a campaign which includes visits to British golf clubs, a series of Irish golf days in Britain, and travel trade trips aimed at attracting 1,500 additional visitors to the regions.

Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar said: “Golf generates more revenue than conventional holidays, and golfing visitors tend to play at more than one location, which creates a more dispersed pattern of spending.”

Tiernan Byrne of Club Choice Ireland said this is the first group of its kind.

Stena Line has signed up to provide travel support to the scheme, with the first of the Irish golf days taking place in February.

Oleg Chereshnev of Silk Way Tours, a Russian tour operator based in Cork, is planning to develop a golf tourism link between the countries. He recently hosted a trip for four of Russia’s most influential golf tourism figures.

“Golf was once played only by wealthy Russian individuals,” he said. “But it is a fast-developing game which is now being played by all levels of Russian society.”

The visitors played a number of the region’s top courses, including Cork Golf Club, Fota, Castlemartyr, and Monkstown. “They returned to Russia hugely impressed by the golf courses and hotels in the south and south-west of Ireland, and are very anxious to let their readers know about the beauty and uniqueness of the links and parkland courses of Ireland,” he said.