Golf industry experts met to discuss how they could better collaborate to strengthen the region’s golf product, and attract more visitors to the North-east at yesterday’s (28 March 2017) VisitAberdeenshire Golf Tourism Innovation Workshop.
The event, which was jointly facilitated by VisitAberdeenshire and Scottish Enterprise, was attended by 40 golf industry professionals from throughout the North-east.
Delegates heard presentations from the Tourism Resources Company, Scottish Enterprise and the Fife Golf Partnership.
David Bullough of the Tourism Resources Company said, “The overseas golf visitor is a real growth market, accounting for 27% of the total number of golf visitors in 2016. There is significant opportunity to strengthen this market, particularly in European locations such as Germany where we’re seeing a strong trend in women playing golf. We’re also seeing a change on how people are spending their time on golfing holidays with a move away from back to back games, to more days spent experiencing the local culture and visiting attractions.”
Jenni Fraser, business development director of VisitAberdeenshire said, “We have some of the world’s best golf courses here in Aberdeenshire which generates £30 million in the local economy every year. We have a real opportunity to package golf trips to showcase the region to both national and international markets, featuring our castle and coastal trails as well as our strong food and drink industry. We need to continue to attract new visitors and develop partnerships to allow us to further grow this market. The golf industry is worth £1.1 billion to Scotland’s economy, and we can only increase our share of this revenue through greater collaboration between North-east businesses. Today’s workshop will allow industry leaders to shape our golf tourism product to ensure it continues to evolve and attract more visitors from around the world.”
