Golf is and will continue to be the main ‘anchor’ of luxury resorts and one of the driving forces that will help the tourism sector to recover from the second half of the year. This is one of the conclusions drawn from the webinar organized yesterday by Arum Group, in collaboration with the Spanish Association of Golf Courses (AECG), which under the title ‘The before and after of golf resorts at the time of COVID-19’, has tried to shed light on the future that lies ahead after the pandemic.
Golf is becoming fashionable again. It can be played individually or in small groups, outdoors, enjoying spectacular scenery. It is a sport considered ‘safe’ even for health experts, something that has helped its growth not to slow down even in a year as punished for the sport as the past. The figures do not deceive. The number of golf federates grew throughout 2020 in Spain, for the second consecutive year, to 271,788 federates, 270,219 of them amateurs and 1,569 professionals, according to the Royal Spanish Golf Federation (RFEG).
But… what has the golf industry learned from this crisis and what challenges does it face from now on? These questions were answered in this meeting, moderated by Jesús Abellán, CEO of Arum Group, by three executives of leading resorts in Spain: Carlos Erburu, Chief Operating Officer of La Manga Club, in Murcia; Vicente Rubio, general manager of Finca Cortesín, in Málaga, and Rafael Noblejas, general manager of Grupo Timón and its real estate and hotel division, Grupo Tropical Hoteles, which manages Abama Resort in Tenerife.
In his opinion, although golf may benefit from the pandemic, resorts will have to adapt to the new ‘needs of potential customers’. Trends that were already emerging before the health crisis will accelerate. “We are not talking about anything new, but changes in consumption will be precipitated and more security will be sought,” stressed Vicente Rubio. Resort values are going to be on the rise, issues such as solidarity, sustainability, carbon footprint, healthy living, careful nutrition, sports, yoga, meditation, wellness, environmental health safety… will be key to the success of golf resorts in the future.
“The adaptability of each brand to these new concepts will be key to remain leaders in the tourism sector. It will depend on how fast we move with respect to other competing markets, such as Turkey, for us to maintain our leadership,” Carlos Erburu said.
The recovery of tourism will be exponential after overcoming the pandemic, while that of business will slow down. As Rafael Noblejas pointed out: “We are seeing the end of the tunnel. Our forecasts are that, if the pace of vaccination is met globally, the beginning of normalization will take place in the second half of this year and there will be significant growth in 2022. But the technological development, how we have learned to communicate during this crisis when mobility was reduced, will make the business sector undergo a more radical change. A lot of travel will be unnecessary.
For his part, Javier Insula, vice president of the AECG, recalled during the introduction to this webinar that golf will play a crucial role in generating employment in the coming months, since 7 out of every 8 euros of those generated do not fall on the sector, but on external networks, such as services, hospitality and real estate, something that will help to boost the economy in general. This is one of the results of the study of the economic impact of golf in 2020, sponsored by the AECG and the RFEG, which reveals that the sector generates more than 11,000 million euros, 121,000 jobs directly and indirectly and attracts about 1.2 million golf tourists a year to Spain.
Impact on the real estate sector
Golf is and will continue to be the great catalyst for real estate investment in resorts, in the opinion of these experts. Spain will continue to generate new products, because there is land, but “the trend in the future will be low density, the creation of resorts that do not exceed 10 homes per hectare,” said Vicente Rubio. In his opinion, golf courses, like every business unit, must be profitable on their own. It makes no sense that the rest of the units that make up a resort (hotels, wellness, restaurants, other sports complexes, real estate division, property management, concierge service and community administration, among others) could be affected economically, dragging down the viability of the business.
Teleworking and the search for security will benefit the acquisition of larger homes in open spaces within a controlled and serviced environment, something that will undoubtedly encourage investment in the future of golf resort real estate products. In this sense, digital marketing and virtual sales are fundamental tools for the promotion of homes in particular and other resort services in general.
The varied offer of services and activities, as well as the possibility of renting out the property, are also increasingly important aspects for the success of a resort, but not for profitability at all levels. The owner of a 4 million euro property, for example, is more concerned about the care of his residence than about making a profit from it. The concept of profitability is usually associated with homes built under the umbrella of hotel brands.
These are some of the contents covered in what is the first of a series of webinars organized by Arum Group and AECG, which with different approaches will give voice to professionals with proven experience, and will present the challenges, problems and strategies that may be vital for the golf sector in the short term.
Leave a Reply