{"id":14668,"date":"2015-01-23T11:03:14","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T11:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/ali-m-saudi-chief-executive-officer-of-santa-maria-golf\/"},"modified":"2015-01-23T11:03:14","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T11:03:14","slug":"ali-m-saudi-chief-executive-officer-of-santa-maria-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/ali-m-saudi-chief-executive-officer-of-santa-maria-golf\/","title":{"rendered":"ALI M. SAUD\u00cd, Chief Executive Officer of Santa Mar\u00eda Golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

“FROM GOLF COURSES ALL OTHER BUSINESSES BENEFIT.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born in Tripoli, Libya, in 1956, Ali M. Saudi graduated in architecture from the Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy), then spent a period in Dublin (Trinity College) and another in Barcelona (Banco Atl\u00e1ntico), until he arrived in Marbella in 1987 as assistant manager of Areservices (Aresbank). Since 1992 he has been managing director of Santa Mar\u00eda Golf. <\/p>\n

1 <\/span>The world of banking, in which you worked, now has a lot to do with golf, especially because quite a few courses are owned by banks due to non-payment of loans granted to developers. What would you recommend a bank that owns a golf course to do? <\/p>\n

<\/span>-A bank is not interested in having its money tied up and I advise it to sell or at least to look for a professional partner in this business.<\/p>\n

2 <\/span>-Andalusia has the capacity, in terms of number of courses, to welcome twice the number of golfers that visit us annually. What could be done to increase golf tourism to this destination? <\/p>\n

<\/span>-We are always talking about wanting to be a golf destination, and yet the only ones who do anything are the course owners. The Administration must do its part and, to begin with, the current VAT must be eliminated and the price of recycled water must be lowered. <\/p>\n

3 <\/span>-Santa Mar\u00eda Golf was inaugurated almost a quarter of a century ago. What would you highlight the evolution of the course over the years? <\/p>\n

<\/span>-At Santa Mar\u00eda Golf and Country Club we are a group of workers making an effort to offer good quality in the course and its maintenance day after day without skimping anything, everything to maintain the same quality as always. And I want to emphasize the social atmosphere of our members and visitors, which has always distinguished us and is playing an important role in the life of the club every day. <\/p>\n

4 <\/span>-When you arrived in Marbella in 1987, the Costa del Sol had barely a third of the golf courses it has today. What has this large increase in the number of courses meant for this tourist destination? <\/p>\n

<\/span>-In the 1990s and the beginning of the next decade we saw a significant increase in the number of members in Europe, and in Spain people seem to have discovered golf as a sport that is no longer so exclusive. This was accompanied by an increase in the number of golf courses in our area, which in turn went hand in hand with residential tourism development and contributed to an increase in the number of visitors to Andalucia. All this translates into more income and improvement of the economy in all sectors, especially in the high golf season. <\/p>\n

5 <\/span>-With the strict conditions required by the Junta de Andaluc\u00eda to approve new projects, both in terms of minimum land extension and limitation of urban developments, and with the still delicate situation of the real estate market, do you think that any investor will consider it profitable to build new golf courses in Andalusia or do you foresee a long stagnation in this sense?<\/p>\n

<\/span>-This is a very serious issue, and thank you for this question. A golf course is not a business in itself, but an expensive attraction to develop an area that guarantees steady work for many people. The current parameters are a limitation that benefits no one. I am of the opinion to set parameters based on the quality of the course and demand a good continuous maintenance, something that guarantees the future and the viability of the project, and as for residential development the same: demand quality, and each project that complies, go ahead and good luck. <\/p>\n

6 <\/span>-What do you miss in a leading golf destination such as the Costa del Sol?<\/p>\n

<\/span>-We miss the Administration in general and their help, which need not always be financial. We, the golf course owners, operate by always providing excellent service to the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of visitors to the coast and all other businesses benefit from this. <\/p>\n

7 <\/span>-What do golfers who play this course generally like the most about Santa Mar\u00eda Golf?<\/p>\n

<\/span>-Our clients at Santa Mar\u00eda Golf like the course, the quality and the geographical location of the course, but above all the human quality of our staff.<\/p>\n

8 <\/span>-It seems that we are once again experiencing a good moment in golf tourism. Do you share that opinion? <\/p>\n

<\/span>-I am an optimist by nature, but not as optimistic as living in a good moment. In this free fall it seems that we have already hit bottom, and all we have left is to get out of the well, hopefully soon. <\/p>\n

9 <\/span>-Is now a good time to buy a house in Marbella next to a good golf course or can prices still fall further?<\/p>\n

<\/span>-It is always good to buy next to a golf course: guaranteed value; it is almost better than beachfront.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“FROM GOLF COURSES ALL OTHER BUSINESSES BENEFIT.” Born in Tripoli, Libya, in 1956, Ali M. Saudi graduated in architecture from the Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy), then spent a period in Dublin (Trinity College) and another in Barcelona (Banco Atl\u00e1ntico), until he arrived in Marbella in 1987 as assistant manager of Areservices (Aresbank). Since 1992 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_canonical_url":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}