Twenty-five years have passed, almost nothing, since Andalucía Golf/España Golf began its journey. Twenty-five years in which, against all odds, we have kept alive a publication dedicated to the service, fundamentally, of Andalusian golf. In these years we have been its “spokespersons”, we have spread its image, its offer; we have bet, in short, for a sector that nowadays, and despite the crisis, provides work for thousands of people, generates wealth in our community and allows diversifying and deseasonalizing an industry, such as tourism, which represents almost 12% of the GDP.
In all this time Andalucía Golf has hardly had institutional support, probably because we did not have the political influence that other media can provide, or because in our circles of friends did not enter certain characters who have the key to everything or almost everything. We never got a single “subsidy”, if at all, the occasional pat on the back; and not many either, let’s not kid ourselves.
It is not a complaint, it is a statement. What we can boast with pride and intimate satisfaction, is to have had in these two and a half decades of hard work with the understanding, affection and help of the Andalusian golf sector, which has allowed us to reach today. There are so many people to thank for their support that it is impossible to list them all. But I would like to highlight two people, two friends of this publication who have always supported us: Mr. Ángel de la Riva, president of the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation, and Mr. Jaime Ortiz Patiño, founder and president of Valderrama for a long time. Many thanks to both of them: we will never forget what they have done for us.
In a career as long as ours we have been witnesses and sometimes “cooperators” of many key moments of Andalusian golf: Twenty-something Volvo Masters, the Ryder Cup 97, the Amex World Championships, various Spanish and Andalusian Opens, World Cups, the Andalusia Masters, the Volvo World Match Play Championship, etc., etc.. We have organized national and international promotions of our golf offer, we have promoted and spread the image of the sector, we have “recreated” it when it hardly existed? In short, we believe that we have contributed to the creation of this destination which, despite the crisis, may possibly continue to be the first in Europe.
We are going through difficult times, very difficult times, in which we all tend to withdraw, to look only at our navel, but we are sure that we will continue to be useful to Andalusian golf after 25 years and that we can count on your support for a long time to come.
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