THE Stadium Course at PGA Catalunya Resort near Barcelona has been voted Spain’s number one golf course for the third successive year. Recent 2014-2015 rankings from www.Top100golfcourses.co.uk
rate the venue as number three in Continental Europe and #92 in their revised World Top 100 classification.
Over the past two years, PGA Catalunya Resort’s Stadium Course has undergone significant enhancements under the supervision of designers Neil Coles MBE and Ángel Gallardo, which have included construction of seven new championship tees, lengthening of the course to 6,705 m and adding green-guarding bunkers to create more challenging approaches on selected holes, among other improvements.
Julio Delgado, chief executive officer of PGA Catalunya Resort, adds: “These latest accolades underline the growing reputation of PGA Catalunya Resort on the global golf stage. However, we will not rest on our laurels – we plan further investments in the future to safeguard our position as one of golf’s must-experience destinations.”
Spanish Golf Tourism is now a $461 million industry, according to research presented at International Golf Travel Market (IGTM), staged in Costa Daurada, Catalonia, Spain, last year. The study, which also revealed Spain as the number one travel destination for visitors from the UK, France, Germany and Scandinavia, also highlighted European golf tourism to be worth $2.1 billion per year.
The findings form part of a research document entitled ‘European Spotlight on Golf Tourism to Spain’, which was commissioned by Reed Travel Exhibitions, organisers of IGTM, and produced by Sports Marketing Surveys.
Richard Payne, senior manager at Sports Marketing Surveys, says: “The importance of golf tourism to Spain and the wider European economy is abundantly clear with these findings. It also highlights why events such as IGTM are vital in unlocking future international growth in the global golf travel market to keep pace with this strong demand.”
Research also showed that of the 28.5 per cent of European golfers who visited Spain to play golf in 2012, 12.7 per cent went to the Costa del Sol, 3.9 per cent went to the Costa Brava region, 3.2 per cent visited the Canary Islands and 8.7 per cent went to other areas.
Peter Grimster, IGTM exhibition manager, says: “These top-line findings underpin the scale of the golf tourism industry in Europe and how it represents an important 10 per cent of the total economic impact of golf on the economy of Europe, which stands at $20.5 billion per annum.”
As host to IGTM 2013, the Catalan region of Costa Daurada is also rapidly growing its reputation as a golf destination.