Thanks to Golf Tourism England’s new state-of-the-art website, English golf should soon be making up for lost time in the golf tourism destination stakes
England’s Celtic cousins to the north, west, and across the Irish Sea have long been in the business of heavily promoting the wonderful variety of golf on offer within their respective borders, but until last year the same couldn’t be said of England, all the more surprising given that it has considerably more courses than Wales, Scotland and Ireland combined.
Golf Tourism England (GTE) was only launched nine months ago to address the issue, and has already become a 100-member alliance of clubs, resorts and hotels who see the huge potential benefit of a co-ordinated marketing body to represent the interests of English golf as a wonderfully varied golf tourism destination. The breadth of the current membership covers long-established private members' clubs such as Formby, Ipswich and Hunstanton, through to modern clubs like Centurion and Chart Hills and hotel resorts such as The Belfry and The Grove.
That membership figure, along with awareness of the organisation, looks set to expand rapidly with the launch of a new state-of-the-art website to assist anyone looking to find out more about English golf, or book a golfing holiday in England.
GTE, the vision and brainchild of founder and CEO Andrew Cooke, seeks to bring all parties involved in golf tourism in England together for the first time in a determined bid to mirror the success of its Celtic neighbours in recent years. “I am delighted to be in the position to launch our brand new website today, and would like to thank each one of our members who have given their support to the GTE strategy since we launched just nine months ago,” said Cooke. “It serves as affirmation that we are making excellent progress in our bid to set up an association that will have a beneficial effect for all of those involved in the country’s golf tourism industry.
The new website acts a one-stop resource for all would-be golfing visitors to England, with a wealth of information about courses to play, places to stay, travel, recommended restaurants and off-course entertainment. The goal is to provide a valuable tool for potential visitors to find out all they need to know in one place.
Wider English tourism body, Visit England, is fully behind this initiative to promote the appeal of England as a world-class golf destination, with Head of Business Tourism for Visit England, Simon Gidman, commenting: “The establishment of Golf Tourism England’s new website is a hugely important step in its development as the first point of call for local and international visitors thinking of England for their next golf break, and we are delighted to see it come to fruition.” He describes the new website as a “key element in establishing the country in its rightful place as one of the world’s most popular golfing destinations.”
Visitors to the website will be presented with two sections – one for potential visitors, and the other to provide golfing bodies and other interested parties with information on membership and the associated benefits.
The newly launched Golf Tourism England website can be found at www.golftourismengland.com.
