WIREDGOV

The hosting of Wales’s first major championship, the Senior Open Championship, which will be played at Royal Porthcawl in July 2014 was the key Wales message throughout  the event. The Welsh Government is committed to continue with a high profile programme of golf tourism marketing activity for 2014/15 to maximise the opportunities of hosting this major championship.

Paul Williams, from Asbri Golf  the Caerphilly based golf accessory company, said:

"The PGA Show is the most important date in our diary to meet existing customers and to find new ones to grow our business.  Once again this year,  we processed a good volume of orders during the show and met many new distributors. We are hopeful that ongoing discussions with some new distributors, particularly in the US and Canada, will equate to approximately £300,000-£500,000 worth of export business in 2014.

This already looks to be our best ever show in terms of the quality of customers and distributors that came onto our stand and we are so grateful for the help and support from Visit Wales."

Dylan Williams of Wales Golf Vacations, said:

“The show was excellent, the stand was first -class and in a great location at the event.  From our point of view we made a lot of contacts. We have already had over £2k of business agreed and hopefully a lot more in the pipeline.  We also made a great contact with an agent who is now actively promoting our tours to 15 member golf courses in Florida.

“There was great  interest in Wales from the US - especially with regard to the Senior Open Championship coming to Porthcawl three times in the next 10 years, I think it is essential that Wales attends this show, as it is a relatively cost effective way of reaching the US golfing traveller market, and this will build on the already excellent work done in the run up to the Ryder Cup in 2010.”

Golf tourism is a key sector for specific marketing initiatives organised by Visit Wales. This reflects Welsh Government priority to capitalize on the hosting of The 2010 Ryder Cup and the Senior Open Championship 2014. Visit Wales’ marketing work will invest £300,000 in 2014 to target consumers, tour operators and media with the proposition that Golf in Wales is “golf as it should be”.

In partnership with the European European Tour Wales will be exhibiting at eight golf tournaments in Wales, UK, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands and the 2014 Ryder Cup in Scotland.

The Visit Wales Golf TV advert will broadcast on Sky Sports and Sky Sports 1 in April and, in particular, around UK coverage of the US Masters, part of an extensive on air, on-line and in print golf consumer marketing campaign.