“We want big tournaments that put us in the showcase of world golf.”
With an affable and friendly manner, Francisco Javier Fernández, the Andalusian Regional Minister of Tourism, assures that golf is one of the priority tourism segments in the marketing plans that his Department is preparing for the next four years.
We interviewed him at Aloha Golf after the trophy ceremony of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino, official tournament of the Women’s European Tour.
-What did you think of the tournament?
-I thought it was great because of the large number of spectators, because of the image we have transmitted on television to many countries with this splendid sun and because we have also had for the first time a Spanish champion in the tournament, and it has been a Malaga, an Andalusian who lives a great present and has a magnificent future ahead of her. So it has been a great tournament both in sporting terms and in terms of promoting tourism in Andalusia.
-Does this sponsorship of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino imply the return of the Junta de Andalucía to invest in major professional tournaments or is there no intention to reinvest the large sums that were spent a few years ago on tournaments such as the Volvo Masters or the Masters de Andalucía?
-We do want to have the line of showing the courses of Andalusia again with big tournaments, with competitions that put us in the world showcase of golf and that has a lot of repercussion, especially because of the television broadcasts. What we want is to have the maximum efficiency in the economic management, in the investments, and I believe that right now, at the present moment, to bring championships like this Spanish Open for women or like the Spanish Open for men that we had in April is a great asset for the promotion of our tourist destination.
-Have you already closed the Tourism Marketing Plan for next year and, if so, how is golf promotion envisaged?
-We are now closing the Marketing Plan for the next four years, from 17 to 20, and we are also closing the Action Plan, and golf is going to have a great prominence, it is going to be one of the main points both for the fight against seasonality and as a complementary offer for anyone who decides to come to Andalusia. The Andalusian coast has a great offer of golf courses, and also in the interior there are interesting proposals. We want Andalusia to truly be a land of golf, that golf is a great attraction to come here, and we are going to have it very present in our Marketing Plan.
-Are you considering new promotional formulas to build loyalty among golfers from our traditional source markets and to attract new markets?
-We are looking for new formulas taking advantage of the possibilities offered by innovative technologies. We have the possibility of having webcams and live broadcasts where you can see live our climate and the quality of our courses in countries where in winter you can’t play golf because of bad weather. The tools exist and we must know how to take advantage of them to value all the golf tourism capital we have in Andalusia.
-The courses of the Costa del Sol are currently (at the end of September, at the beginning of the high golf season in the area) with a high occupancy and in many cases full. However, other tourist golf areas of Andalusia are far from these levels of players. Although it is clear that the air, road and rail infrastructures are not the same, could something be done to try to increase occupancy in these other areas, especially on the Costa de la Luz in Cadiz and Huelva and in Almeria?
-We are promoting the different areas so that in the end Andalusia is conceived as a golf destination that concentrates around 20 percent of all the golf courses in Spain. We support all the areas, but we are aware that the Costa del Sol is the flagship in this sense and the battering ram that opens the way and from which all Andalusian golf benefits. We are going to look for and make alliances so that golf tourism is one of the big bets of Andalusia.
-At the presentation of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino (Andalucía Costa del Sol Women’s Spanish Open), the representatives of two administrations, the Junta de Andalucía and the Diputación Provincial, one governed by the PSOE and the other by the PP, praised each other, referring to the joint work for the achievement of this tournament….
-I believe that dialogue and cooperation is something the citizens demand from us. It is always positive that we are able to understand each other, to reach agreements, that we coincide with the lines of promoting golf, which in the end is to generate economy, to generate employment, which I believe is what moves us all public administrations. We are also looking for an alliance with the private sector, which is also represented in these initiatives, because together we will be able to go much further. On the Costa del Sol we are finding this alliance of the Junta de Andalucía, the municipalities and the Diputación because we are aware of the tourist importance of golf.
-Speaking of awareness, do you think that public administrations in general are aware of the importance of golf as a tourist attraction, or are there still many prejudices based on the erroneous perception that it is a sport for the rich? In Spain, golf is the third sport in number of federated members, only surpassed by soccer and basketball. In Madrid, for example, it is the second sport, only surpassed by soccer, with more than 80,000 golfers…
-I believe that the politicians nowadays, the people who have some responsibility in the Administration are aware of the importance of golf. I think that many of the prejudices have been eliminated, not because of golf as a sport but because of some movements that had been made in the surroundings, where there was more of an urbanistic interest than a sporting interest. We are aware that golf must be environmentally and economically sustainable and that it is a very important tourist resource.
-Have you ever tried playing golf?
-I have tried it at La Cartuja (there is a public golf facility), but I have to admit it: I am not a golfer.
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