“I’m optimistic about next season.”
Ricardo Andrades took over a little over a year ago the management of Almenara Golf, the course located in Sotogrande with three 9-hole courses, designed by former Ryder Cup player Dave Thomas, this course completed its third nine holes in 2001, a spectacular layout that runs around a series of large lakes and features some of the most impressive tees in Europe.
The three courses: Lakes, the most recent one, Pines and Cork oaks, offer a perfect balance of game and a challenge that never gets boring due to the combination possibilities that exist.
Almenara belongs to NH Resorts, which has a hotel next to the golf course of the highest level in every sense: service, facilities, architecture, etc.
-This last year, since you took over the management of Almenara, has not been good for tourism in general or for golf tourism in particular. How have you experienced it here?
We, thanks to the fact that we have a hotel of the same property next to the golf course, the winter months of low season, from December to mid-February, we had good results. In high season, November and March were good, as were these months in general for the whole Coast. And, in summer, we have the enormous advantage of being in Sotogrande with a magnificent hotel, I repeat. At this time the national market and residents take over from European golfers. August, which for many courses is low season, here we sell almost four thousand rounds. It is the best month of the year for Almenara.
-In summary, it could be said that last season, which was generally bad, was not so bad for you.
-Yes, we can say that we “saved” the year. We have not gone down compared to the previous year. We have remained at the same numbers, which means that the crisis has not continued to push us down, we have not continued to fall. Now it is a matter of starting to go up.
-Could the explanation be that they have a good product, superior to others?
-Of course. We have a unique resort in southern Europe. In addition to the hotel, we offer three magnificent 9-hole courses, which can be combined with each other, providing a great variety of game and course. The environment, in which in addition to beaches, marinas, etc., there are nine other excellent golf courses less than ten minutes away, also has an influence. Courses such as La Reserva, San Roque, Valderrama, etc., make this area a very special corner of the Costa del Sol. We,” adds Andrades, “have always taken great care of our product, so throughout the year we have carried out intensive maintenance work on the course, especially reinforcing the landscaping and touching up everything that could be touched up, because a golf course is always a living element. This summer,” continues the director of Almenara, “has been very intense for us. In August, for example, we have had twelve tournaments. We started on the 4th with the Telva, with more than two hundred ladies, and we finished on the 20th with the NH Resorts. In all of them we have had an average of 140 players”.
-What prospects do you see for next season?
-Almenara, except in summer, and like everyone else, depends on the international market, and it seems that the one that was taking the longest time to recover, the British market, is already coming out of the crisis. The pound is recovering and we can see a certain “upturn” of visitors from that country. With Danes, Swedes and Germans we have good forecasts. I do not want to err on the side of optimism, but I believe that next season, unless some catastrophe occurs, will be better than the last ones.
Leave a Reply