The luxurious hotel of the Villa Padierna resort in Costa del Sol, where Michelle Obama stayed during her vacations in Spain, was the scene of a working meeting between fifty tour operators specialized in golf with Andalusian suppliers, mainly golf courses and hotels, in a conference organized by IAGTO (International Association of Golf Tour Operators) and Turismo Andaluz.
The tour operators participating in the business meeting came from seventeen countries from around the world, including Argentina, United States, India, Morocco, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Holland, Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. These last three are, together with the Scandinavian countries, the main foreign markets for Andalusian golf. The purpose of this professional event was to close business deals and promote the Andalusian golf tourism sector.
The meetings between each tour operator and the various suppliers were numerous, as they were limited to several minutes in duration and with pre-arranged appointments. A total of 1,125 appointments had been pre-arranged.
According to data provided by the president of IAGTO, Peter Walton, 345 golf tour operators in 46 countries sell the destination Spain and 58% of all operators sell Andalusia. As for the state of the golf market, this 2015 is the fourth consecutive year of growth in the volume of traveling golfers, with an average of 9.8% worldwide in the period 2012-2014 and 9.5% at the European level.
With regard to figures for the first quarter of this year, compared to that period in 2014, a worldwide increase of 8% and a European increase of 8.8% were recorded, while advance bookings grew by 8% and 8.8%, respectively.
Spain has consistently ranked as the number one destination in terms of importance to IAGTO tour operators, but in terms of how fast the destination is growing, it dropped to seventh place in 2013, behind Portugal (second) and Morocco (fifth).
The meeting organized by IAGTO and Turismo Andaluz also included a golf tournament for professionals (tour operators and suppliers) at Flamingos Golf Club. The 2005 U.S. Open champion, Michael Campbell, played a short hole with all the groups of players and was photographed with them next to a replica of the trophy that made him world famous last decade. The Villa Padierna Golf Resort’s golf academy is named after the famous New Zealand player.
The importance of the professional meeting organized by IAGTO and Turismo Andaluz lies in the fact that this international organization brings together 80% of the golf packages sold worldwide through tour operators.
The presentation of this conference was attended by the Minister of Tourism and Sport of the Junta de Andalucía, Luciano Alonso, Peter Walton and the president of Villa Padierna Hotels and Resorts, Ricardo Arranz. Alonso stressed the importance of golf in the autonomous community as a tourist segment because, among other things, contributes significantly to the deseasonalization of tourism, as its high season is the opposite to that of sun and beach.
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