Golf wants to be heard. This is the main message that the representatives of this sector, and specifically, the Spanish Association of Golf Courses (AECG) wanted to convey to the Government after a year in which the business has been severely punished due to the inextricable relationship between golf and tourism, an activity that has been completely paralyzed due to the absence of foreign tourist arrivals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carlos Pitarch, member of the Board of Directors and representative of AECG in the Tourism Board, has defended the role of golf as an economic driver and as a key asset for recovery, but has also warned that if the necessary aid is not provided to protect infrastructure and employment in these months of paralysis of the activity, the consequences for the sector in the long term will be devastating.
“The golf tourism sector is made up not only of the nearly 400 golf courses we have in Spain, but also of a much larger number of tourism providers that provide services to 1.2 million tourists who come to our country motivated by the existence of our golf courses. Tourists who spent 5,400 million euros in a pre-covid year, only 15% of which corresponded to the golf courses themselves. However, the regulator does not always treat golf as a tourist sector and the constant increases in the tax burden, sometimes wrongly applied, make the viability of golf courses difficult or impossible and, indirectly, also that of other companies that serve golf tourists,” said Carlos Pitarch.
In order to reverse the serious situation of a sector that provides Spain with high purchasing power tourism and that will be key to recovery, the golf tourism sector has called for the following fiscal measures:
The application to golf of the reduced VAT rate of 10%, to bring it into line with that applied to the rest of the tourism sector, taking into account that the golf sector promotes international tourism and this differential limits its competitiveness.
The exoneration during 2021 of the payment of social security contributions charged to companies, corresponding to workers who are not in ERTE but are working, in order to avoid further job losses and to protect the rights of employees who see their future income at risk
The classification of the golf sector as a segment within the tourism sector, allowing it to cease to be excluded from aid plans for the sector.
For golf courses, the IBI rebate in 2021, as well as a future revision of the applicable cadastral values.
To encourage employment, the exemption in the payment of Social Security contributions for the workers that golf courses and other tourism companies keep in active employment.
With regard to the work of economic reconstruction after COVID-19, the sector is calling on the State to help companies to maintain jobs, -it is certainly also a tax saving measure-, that companies can apply for ICO credits for the refurbishment of their facilities, or the acceleration of the Next Generation program and the guarantee that the entire tourism sector can participate in this Reconstruction Plan, including the golf tourism sector.
In terms of health safety, the Association proposes the development of tests for all tourists visiting Spain and the acceleration of the vaccination plan, both measures that are vital to overcome the COVID pandemic. And as an additional economic stimulus measure, taking into account that golf tourists already invest 42,000 million euros in housing in Spain, it claims to encourage residential tourism by means of an attractive taxation for foreigners who buy second homes in Spain.
“Currently the vast majority of golf course management companies in Spain are in a loss-making situation, which seriously jeopardizes their viability, therefore, we cannot overestimate the urgency of applying measures, especially fiscal ones, which if not adopted now will lead us to levels of unemployment and personal tragedies never seen before. Spain is a leader in golf and we expect the Government to act to support a sector that contributes so much economically to our country and to promote the Spain Brand abroad”, Pitarch concluded.
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About the Spanish Association of Golf Courses
The Association is a non-profit business organization created to defend the interests of the business of the golf industry and was founded in November 2015. The Spanish Golf Courses Association brings together a group of more than 180 golf courses throughout Spain and it is an Institution with an integrating vocation, which intends to structure the sector generating added value to its member companies; in it coexist all types of courses regardless of their legal conformation: Sports Associations, Commercial Companies, etc.
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