Wednesday, December 22, 2010

GTS February Forum Series

Leading golf experts have been lined up for a February forum series in Scotland.

An exciting programme of seminars has been unveiled that will provide invaluable advice to businesses in the travel, hospitality and golf service sectors operating in the Home of Golf. The series of five February Forums will be held at venues across Scotland in 2011 and will include insights from leading lights of the golf industry.

Born out of a collaboration between Golf Tourism Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland, Scottish Development International, Tourism Intelligence Scotland and the Scottish Golf Union, this year's events will consider how to use market intelligence to get ahead. For instance, what is good information, how can it help businesses make better decisions and how can it be used to improve the bottom line?

The enlightening sessions will bring together leading practitioners in tourism intelligence who will motivate golf tourism businesses to generate fresh ideas and drive growth through innovation. As well as three key-note presentations, the seminars will also include Q&A sessions, creative innovation workshops and networking buffet lunches.

As Lee Derrick, the chairman of GTS pointed out, the 2011 forums have been designed to provide a networking opportunity that will encourage industry engagement and collaborative working at both national and regional levels.

"This year's forums will follow a clear agenda to provide delegates with the best advice to help their businesses grow in 2011," he said. "We have taken a lot from last year's forums and added even more delegate participation. The new format means there will be even more opportunities to share ideas and form relationships. The forums are all about sharing best practice and inspiring the golf industry for the year ahead."

Heading up the impressive line-up is Mike Williamson of MW Associates who will provide a summary of the 2010 Golf Tourism Monitor, while Tourism Intelligence Scotland will outline key practical insights into golf tourism that will inspire everyone to get ahead. There will also be a special 'international' presenter at each event who will reveal how market intelligence continues to help their business flourish, and the afternoon will conclude with an innovation workshop that will show how to use market intelligence and customer insights to generate new ideas and improve the customer experience.

"It's certainly an impressive line-up that will undoubtedly reveal a range of useful insights and practical hints on how to use market intelligence to prosper," said Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland. "The objective is to enable golf tourism businesses develop innovative products and services based on good market intelligence so they can maximise the scale of business opportunity that exists within the golf tourism sector."

The series of five afternoon sessions will take place during February and will be open to all GTS members and any golf-related companies looking to maximise profits and grow their business. Bookings can be made by emailing admin@golftourismscotland.com