Teeing-up tourists to support over 7,000 jobs

Visiting golfers help create over 7,000 jobs here, a major industry briefing heard yesterday.

The typical overseas golf tourist is worth up to three times as much to the economy here as the average tourist, golf industry experts were told at the Fáilte Ireland Golf Forum in Limerick. New figures show around 155,000 overseas visitors play golf while in Ireland, equating to €204m a year. This expenditure supports around 7,300 jobs here.

Forum chairman Dan Flinter said: “To build on the impressive performance reflected in this research, the Irish golf sector will not only have to continue to offer memorable experiences, but one that is good value for money. Most encouragingly, this new research shows that we are hitting the mark on both scores — with visitor satisfaction rates at 94% and value for money at 85%.”