Golf tourism has been valued at some US $ 30 billion with over 50 million golf tourists travelling the world to play on some of the estimated 40,000 courses and Northern Ireland is ideally situated to capture a larger slice of this lucrative market due to our excellent golf product in terms of courses and venues , the extremely high profile of our top golfers and the ever-increasing portfolio of golf events being hosted here .
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his year ’ s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open golf championship at Portstewart was a resounding success , showcasing yet another of our top courses , the fantastic coastal scenery along the north coast and further raising Northern Ireland ’ s reputation as a golf destination .
With spectator numbers of 92,534 attending the event and upwards of 500 million viewing the tournament on television around the globe , highly positive exposure for Portstewart and Northern Ireland was achieved to great effect .
Causeway Coast and Glens Council with support from Tourism NI also staged a superb array of evening activities and events on the promenade in town which added a further element of entertainment and atmosphere for those around during the Open event week .
Some economists have put the potential economic impact in the order of £ 19 million for the local economy .
A few weeks later we had another highly successful Northern Ireland Open event at Galgorm Castle , which regularly attracts spectator numbers in the order of 40,000 .
Currently in its fifth year , the Northern Ireland Open is one of the best supported events on the European Challenge Tour ’ s international schedule , both with record attendances and depth of field .
Sponsored by Galgorm Resort and Spa , this year ’ s event also featured a new format on the final day , a series of sixhole strokeplay matches leading to a dramatic finale termed ‘ Shootout Sunday ’.
Further , a brand new trophy carved out of wood from one of the downed trees at the Dark Hedges and featuring imagery from the iconic Giant ’ s Causeway as well as links to Game of Thrones was also a key feature .
Golf momentum and exposure in the media clearly continues to be high for Northern Ireland and what we can leverage from this as a form of tourism is potentially enormous .
More people travel the world to do with golf than any other sport . It is quite simply the world ’ s most lucrative sports related travel market .
Golf tourism has been valued at some US $ 30 billion with over 50 million golf tourists travelling the world to play on some of the estimated 40,000 courses .
Northern Ireland is ideally situated to capture a larger slice of this lucrative market due to our excellent golf product in terms of courses and venues , the extremely high profile of our top golfers and the everincreasing portfolio of golf events being hosted here .
The significance of what this can do for the image of Northern Ireland , our economy and tourism in particular should not be underestimated . In terms of driving tourism forward in Northern Ireland , we have to play to our strengths , and golf tourism is certainly one of those .
It is also a highly lucrative and media friendly form of tourism .
Our hosting of golf ’ s oldest Major is now looming closer . Previous predictions for Royal Portrush hosting The Open in 2019 have identified economic worth of around £ 70 million to the economy .
However if we look to the most recent figures available for The Open when it was at Royal Troon ( the 145th tournament ) in 2016 , they show the event delivered in the region of £ 110 million economic benefit to Scotland , especially when destination marketing benefits are also figured in . A truly incredible opportunity for Portrush and Northern Ireland therefore .
Golf tourism is one of the most lucrative forms of tourism .
Compared to other types of tourists , golf tourists spend significantly more on their vacations ( typically 23 times as much ) and are a prime tourist market to target .
It is not just the immediate impact during the Open event that will bring the huge economic dividend but the longer term tourism potential through the vast media coverage and exposure that the course , the scenery and the region receives .
Tourism NI currently puts revenue from golf visitors at £ 35.6 million per year . That ’ s without the huge boost of hosting a tournament on the scale of The Open or indeed the Irish Open in certain years .
We can rise to the occasion
We have proven in Northern Ireland in recent years that we can host major scale events to an extremely high level , with the likes of the Giro d ’ Italia and the World Police and Fire Games , in addition to some very successful Irish Open Golf events ( at Royal Portrush Royal County Down and most recently Portstewart ).
Such successful event management has not gone unnoticed on the global stage and has helped provide the enormous opportunity of hosting golf ’ s most prestigious event – The Open in 2019 . One of the key differences this time with The Open ( as opposed to Irish Open events ) is that it will bring a much higher percentage of overseas international visitors to our shores and the media coverage will be
even higher and further reaching on a global basis .
With momentum gathering pace it really is time to leverage this highly , to fully harness these immense opportunities .
The economic benefits are potentially enormous as long as we are ready to capitalise on it in the right way . Golf ’ s Open Championship in particular will showcase Portrush and Northern Ireland to the world and if we can embrace it with the same spirit and welcome that was so highly evident for other events it recent years , like the Irish Open ’ s and like we witnessed for the Giro d ’ Italia in particular , then we can accomplish something truly special for our tourism and hospitality industry here that can reap dividends for decades to come .
There are plans for up to three new hotels on the north coast , fueled by the upcoming 2019 Open in particular , and golf tourism and growing tourism interest generally .
Two of these planned hotel complexes are 4 / 5 star properties with full spa facilities and in the region of 120 bedroom capacity each . If we are serious about harnessing golf tourism we need more high end hotel facilities ( golf tourists are a high spend market ) in the regions where our top courses are located , both for more convenience and minimal travel for our visitors but also to help keep the spend in the regions that provide the attraction and deserve more of the economic benefit that results .
Highly encouraging therefore to see this now happening .
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