. While the actual demand in Andalusia is 530,000 golf tourists, the potential demand is over 6.5 million tourists.

. Andalusia maintains its undisputed leadership in the national golf sector with 102 golf courses, accounting for around 301% of the national offering, a considerable distance ahead of Catalonia.

. 751% of tourists came from abroad – four out of ten tourists came from the United Kingdom – and only 151% from within the country.

. Golf tourism is "strategic" for Andalusia thanks to its ability to connect tourist areas, its capacity to reduce seasonality, its differentiating value, and the high average expenditure.

Two out of every ten people who travel to Andalusia do so because of golf. In fact, golf tourism is one of the segments with the greatest growth potential in Andalusia, both in terms of the number of tourists and as a percentage, according to the report "New Trends in Golf Tourism: Horizon 2020" by the Confederation of Andalusian Business Owners, prepared in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, and with the active participation of the Spanish Association of Golf Courses (AECG).

The economic impact of golf in Andalusia, including both direct and indirect effects, is estimated to be over 3.2 billion euros. The average daily expenditure of golf tourists (118 euros) is double that of general tourists, with green fees and restaurants accounting for 701% of the expenditure.

In 2017, Andalusia hosted the only European Golf Tour event held in Spain, the Andalusia Masters, while in 2011 it hosted 3 of the seven tournaments held in Spain, an event considered one of the best promotional tools to internationally promote Andalusia as a tourist destination.

According to the institutions that conducted the study, this type of tourism is strategic for the region, thanks to its ability to reduce seasonality and the quality it brings to tourism, as well as its complementarity with sun and beach tourism and cultural tourism. Furthermore, they emphasize the satisfaction that golf tourists express with Andalusia as a destination, which they rate highly.

The average revenue of golf courses in Andalusia is the highest in Spain, reaching €2.9 million, ahead of Madrid, the Canary Islands, and the Balearic Islands. Andalusia's main international competitors are Portugal and Morocco, and the existence of direct connections with source markets, which sometimes take precedence over the quality of Andalusia's tourism offerings, are some of the conclusions of the report.

Furthermore, among the main trends observed in this sector are a focus on internationalization, sustainability, influencers, innovation, partnerships and hybrid tourism, flexibility, new market niches, and the incorporation of new technologies that "make it more accessible and open to citizens and golfers." In this regard, it is worth mentioning applications such as Golf Alert and Golf Sense, which allows users to check tournament and event schedules and recreates their swing in three dimensions on their smartphone, facilitating improvement in their game.

The Report also includes lines of action such as the need to open Golf to Young People and the Educational Community, strengthen promotion and develop actions in distant -non-traditional- markets, the vision of the sector in Horizon 2020 and the factors of competitiveness: quality, taxation, innovation, promotion, public-private collaboration and management/revenue management.

SOURCE: Confederation of Businessmen of Andalusia

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