The Minister of Employment, Economy and Business, Patricia Franco, has presented this morning a guide to promote the 16 golf courses in Castilla-La Mancha, as well as its heritage and gastronomy, with the aim of attracting the 1.2 million international tourists who visited Spain in the last year to play golf.
In the same way, Franco explained, this campaign is also intended to encourage federated golfers in the country to visit the Castilian-La Mancha courses. Spain currently has 270,000 federated members, 5,000 of them from Castilla-La Mancha.
The province of Ciudad Real has three golf courses (Ciudad Real, Alcázar de San Juan and Torrenueva), Toledo and Cuenca have four each, three in Guadalajara and two in Albacete.
The counselor explained that in recent years work has been done together with golf professionals to attract players, a group with a longer average stay and higher average spending on their trips. In addition, Franco pointed out that golf also makes it possible to deseasonalize the tourist offer, since it can be practiced throughout the year and its activity does not have to be concentrated on dates of more tourist activity such as Easter.
Patricia Franco / Elena Rosa
In the campaign, in addition to the guide, advertising actions will be undertaken in specialized media and a video has been made that will be broadcast on the promotional channels of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha.
For his part, the president of the Golf Federation of Castilla-La Mancha, Carlos Gutiérrez, who thanked the regional government for the initiative, stressed the work from the golf courses for sustainability, both socially, environmentally and economically.
On a social level, Gutiérrez pointed out the characteristics of the international golf tourist, with an average daily expenditure of 360 euros. A tourist that can be attracted “because we have first class courses that are to be proud of.” Along these lines, he added that it is also feasible to bring golfers from communities bordering Castilla-La Mancha closer, such as Madrid, which has 90,000 members.
At an environmental level, the president of the Regional Golf Federation wanted to demystify the contrary opinions without knowledge that are made about golf courses. He highlighted the commitment of the managers to make golf courses that are irrigated with reclaimed water as sustainable as possible, which later returns to the ecosystem as clean water. He also highlighted that they generate fauna and biodiversity.
Carlos Gutiérrez, president of the Castilla-La Mancha Golf Federation / Elena Rosa-5
Finally, at the level of economic sustainability, Gutiérrez pointed out that “we are on the right track to make it so, growing in the number of members.”
In this sense, he stressed that every 8 euros spent by a tourist who practices golf, 7 go to other sectors, boosting the economy.
He concluded his speech by encouraging them to get started in the world of golf by going to a course and taking part in a practice day.
Golfer / Elena Rosa
