talking points Hot Spots for Golf Travel

The folks at KPMG's Golf Advisory Service recently discussed the current state of golf travel with Andrew Stanley, the CEO of Golfbreaks.com. Stanley, who's based in England, weighed in on a variety of topics, and you can read the complete interview at the Golf Business Community's website.

For this post, I've selected comments Stanley made about the hot-spots for golf travelers. Since his company books golf holidays in both established and up-and-coming golf destinations, he knows where they are.

Demand in Spain and Portugal, generally speaking, is down, although Golfbreaks’ business is tracking on a 30 percent increase this year to both destinations. However, Spain and Portugal both dropped their prices to stimulate demand, followed by France and, latterly, Ireland. Demand for the USA and South Africa also diminished, although the rest of the world and the top end of the market have been less affected. . . .

The U.K. is still our number one market, both by volume and price. Interestingly, Wales, which is hosting the Ryder Cup, has had a very strong year, driven by some high-profile marketing. As I said, Spain and Portugal have been strong for us, although this may not be reflected in the wider market. France has also bounced back for us after a quiet year in 2009. . . .

There is very strong demand for Turkey now, which is benefitting from word-of-mouth recommendations. It’s one of the fastest-growing destinations, albeit starting from a low base. We are 50 percent up, year-on-year, for Turkey. . . .

We are keeping a close eye on the United Arab Emirates, too, which is looking promising. . . .

The long-haul destinations have been worst hit -– the USA in particular. Airlines have cut back the number of flights, so prices have increased, putting people off. Ireland and France also suffered, largely because they were very slow to react to price reductions and tactics to stimulate demand. . . .

Demand for South Africa, before and during the World Cup, took a knock, which we anticipated because of the cost of flights and people wanting to avoid the area. But we are surprised not to have seen any uplift subsequently. We thought people would have been more interested in going, but there is no evidence to support this. . . .

Inbound and outbound, Asia is a tough nut to crack. Tour operators need to ask, ‘Are we selling golf holidays, or holidays with golf?’ Thailand is not on our radar at the moment because the number of people going over there to play golf is small. Of course, there are golfers going there, but they are going for a holiday and maybe playing a couple of rounds of golf while there.

Over the next couple of years, we’ll start to see airline capacity to the USA and the Caribbean increase again, and I think we’ll see resurgence in these two regions. These will be the future hot spots, in my opinion. . . .

I believe the outlook is actually extremely positive. Despite the economic uncertainty, golfers have shown they want their fix of golf and are willing to travel. Golfbreaks.com is predicting significant growth in its business this year, possibly double-digit growth.