Sunday, April 11, 2010

Fife Council takes Fife golf to the next level

Fife golf courses and the tourism trade are being encouraged to take a bigger share of the golf tourism market by giving their views on the way forward for more collaboration, through a Fife Golf Alliance. The aim is to improve services, facilities and the golf product, boost business, generate a bigger and better offer to visiting golfers and spread the benefits of golf tourism across the region. With an estimated 1200 golf related jobs in Fife, the market is increasingly competitive and new international destinations are investing heavily, so the planned Alliance would help protect and boost jobs too.

BTS consultants, appointed by Fife Council, are inviting the tourism trade to express their opinions through an open survey and online forum.

Golf tourism generates around £220m for the Scottish economy. This includes the value of visiting golfers staying overnight (£187m) and a further £36m through expenditure by visitors to the major golf events (source VisitScotland). There are already good examples of local collaboration occurring in golf – through the St Andrews Links Trust, St Andrews Golf Development Group, First in Fife Golf pass, Links with History and Elmwood College for instance –and Fife Council believes that there are definite opportunities to be realised by further enhanced joint working.