Golf Tourism Scotland to host forum on future of golf tourism

Golf Tourism Scotland will host a national forum on Tuesday 6th July to discuss the future of golf tourism in Scotland.

Held at Murrayshall House Hotel in Perthshire, the event will form a key part of the celebrations marking the trade body's fifth year of campaigning for the golf tourism trade sector and bring together an impressive line-up of key speakers from both public and private sectors to discuss what the next five years hold for golf tourism in Scotland. As a result, trend spotting will be the order of day along with a healthy dose of best-practice guidelines, with some educated and inspired projections for the future.

Included in the exciting programme of speakers is VisitScotland's Director of Visitor Engagement Malcolm Roughead (OBE), Scottish Enterprise's head of tourism Eddie Brogan, Golf Development Manager for the SGU and SGLA Andy Salmon and Lee Derrick, owner of the multi-faceted marketing agency Blue Spinach.

Also giving their insights into what lies ahead will be Seamus Coen, a regional general manager at Macdonald Hotels and Max Hare, a German tour operator serving a host of European countries including Scotland.

"It's an extremely exciting line-up, made all the more intriguing by the theme of the forum," noted GTS chairman Nick Hunter. "We've given them a fairly strict brief to identify key trends that will influence their sector and reveal how they intend to develop their organisations within these parameters. It will be a fascinating day, finding out what the future holds for each of us."

Greywalls - A New Beginning

One of Scottish golf tourism’s most treasured establishments has just reopened as a hotel once again.

Situated on the edge of the world famous Muirfield golf course and only forty minutes drive from Edinburgh, Greywalls has opened its doors with a new restaurant by legendary chef Albert Roux. Designed by Edwardian architect Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1901, Greywalls has stayed true to its roots and today retains the original classical style for which it is renowned. The house offers 23 en suite bedrooms, warm and inviting public areas including a dedicated whisky room and traditional style library, elegant walled gardens, two tennis courts, a putting green and a croquet lawn. There are twelve golf courses within five miles of the hotel, including Gullane, Luffness, North Berwick, The Renaissance Club and Archerfield.

More information here...

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.

The Face in a Crowd

Gary Forbes the golf professional at GTS member, Murcar Golf Links, has been selected as one of 14 eclectic individuals to represent Scotland, in VisitScotland's latest European Touring Campaign entitled 'Meet the Scots...'.

"We are delighted to see golf represented in this £1.25m campaign for 2010, as it certainly is one of Scotland's biggest draws" said Nick Hunter, Chairman of Golf Tourism Scotland.

The touring campaign is due to run from February until June this year and will target Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands en route.

Check out VisitScotland for further information.