Scottish Golf Marketing

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis
Report to Scottish Enterprise
June 2009

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

Contents

1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 2: Economic impact of golf tourism ..................................................................................... 5 3: Golf tourism product....................................................................................................... 17 4: Profile of visitors and key markets ................................................................................ 28 5: Golf tourism development ..............................................................................................
42 6: Conclusions and recommendations .............................................................................. 51

Annex A: Consultees......................................................................................................... A-1 Annex B: Scotland’s golf courses.................................................................................... B-1 Annex C: Golf Tourism Scotland research ...................................................................... C-1

Contact:

John Nolan

Tel:

0131 225 4007

email:

[e-mail]

Approved by:

Bruce Macdonald Associate Director

Date:

26/06/09

www.sqw.co.uk

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

1: Introduction

1.1

In January 2009 SQW Consulting was commissioned by Scottish Enterprise (SE) to undertake an analysis of the golf tourism market in Scotland. Tourism is one of Scottish Enterprise’s priority industries generating £4.2 billion annually in revenue for Scotland’s economy1 and golf is an important product within the industry. As ‘the home of golf’ Scotland attracts many high spending overseas visitors and golf tourism has the potential to generate significant spill-over benefits in local economies. It can also act as a catalyst for significant private sector investment, much of which tends to comes from abroad. As part of the tourism industry golf tourism is expected to contribute to the national target of a 50% real growth in revenue between 2005 and 20152.

1.2

Purpose of the study
1.3 The aims of this research were to estimate the economic impact of golf tourism, to review the market and identify the opportunities for growing the market over the coming years. In the past a range of estimates have been used as a “value of golf tourism in Scotland”. In commissioning this research, SE wanted to establish an accurate and agreed estimated value that will act as a baseline in the run up to the Ryder Cup taking place in Scotland in 2014. In addition to quantifying the value of golf tourism, the focus of the work is specifically on what SE’s role in supporting golf tourism should be. We stress that this must be based on sound economic principles. As with any SE intervention, there should be a clear economic rationale for their role based on the presence of “market failures” and evidence that any proposed interventions will deliver a strong return on their investment. The recommendations are based on extensive discussions with stakeholders from across the industry and focus primarily on what SE can do to support the industry. It was agreed at the outset that this research should link into other research undertaken by Golf Tourism Scotland (GTS) on behalf of VisitScotland and Scottish Enterprise, which provided the main source of estimates of economic impact based on visitor green fee revenue from Scotland’s golf courses (attached to this report as Annex C).

1.4

1.5

Methodology
1.6 This research was carried out in February to April 2009 and involved the following stages: • Desk review of all relevant documentation including surveys of golf visitors, previous economic impact studies and market trend data. The two main sources of data for the economic impact calculations are:

1 2

VisitScotland (2007), Tourism in Scotland 2007 Scottish Government (2006), Scottish Tourism: The Next Decade A Tourism Framework for Change 1

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

GTS analysis of visitor green fee revenues3 SMS golf visitor surveys 2006 and 2007 commissioned by VisitScotland • A series of consultations (face to face and telephone) with stakeholders, representative bodies and individual golf tourism businesses (a list of consultees is attached as Annex A) Testing and refining research findings and recommendations – this involved circulating a summary paper for comments amongst key stakeholders before writing up the final report.

•

Overview
Value of golf tourism 1.7 Valuing golf tourism in Scotland is the most important element of the study but presents the biggest challenge. Calculating the economic impact of the industry is dependent on reliable data on the number and characteristics of visiting golf visitors that generate the majority of the economic impact. Carrying out this study has highlighted the limitations of the existing research in particular regarding the breakdown of visitors by origin and their average expenditure per trip. We have been able to provide estimates of visitor expenditure using new information gathered and analysed by Golf Tourism Scotland (GTS) combined with data from the Golf Tourism Monitor and visitor survey data commissioned by VisitScotland. Although we believe that this calculation provides as accurate a picture as is currently possible, we set out some of the caveats in using this visitor survey data throughout the report. The results consider the economic impact generated by visitors who come to Scotland to play golf and stay overnight. We do not include day visitors, the large majority of which will be Scottish residents and whose expenditure does not contribute to the national revenue targets. GTS estimates that in 2008 just less than £30 million was spent on visitor green fees. Based on analysis of the ratio of green fee expenditure to total visitor spend (1:4), this indicates that around £119 million is spent by staying visiting golfers. Including “multiplier” effects this figure increases to £191 million in additional economic output. Hosting major golf events such as the Open Championships, Senior British Open and the Scottish Open also attracts visitors to Scotland. The expenditure of these visitors varies each year depending on the events that are hosted in Scotland, but the average over the past four years is estimated to be £36 million in additional output including the multiplier effects. After allowing for those that both attend events and play golf, the combined economic impact is therefore estimated to be £220 million. This represents around £120 million of Gross Value Added (GVA) for the Scottish economy, as set out in Table 1-1. GVA quantifies the

1.8

1.9

1.10

1.11

3

Golf Tourism Scotland (2009), Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland 2

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

value added to materials and other inputs in the production of goods and services (mainly wages, salaries and profit) and is the most commonly used measure of economic impact.4
Table 1-1: Economic impact of golf tourism
Total output (incl. multiplier) Visiting golfers Golf event spectators (Overlap in visitor spend) Total economic impact £191 million £36 million (£3 million) £223 million GVA £113 million £12 million (£2 million) £123 million

Source: SQW Consulting (figures do not add due to rounding to nearest million)

1.12

An associated impact of golf tourism on the Scottish economy is the significant investment by private sector developers in commercial golf facilities in recent years.
Recent investments have included the Castle Course at St Andrews, Carrick Golf and Spa at Loch Lomond, Machrihanish Dunes, Castle Stuart, Fairmont’s re-design of their two golf courses, redevelopment of Turnberry Resort, the opening of the Renaissance Club at Archerfield an the imminent opening of the Rowallan Castle development. Together this represents nearly £250 million of investment committed over the last couple of years alone. Other major developments are planned such as the Trump development at the Menie estate and the Paul Lawrie designed course at Blairs Estate in Aberdeenshire. The significant value of these types of investment has and will continue to generate employment and GVA in Scotland. As importantly, it helps to raise the quality of Scotland’s golf product and enhances the country’s reputation for fine courses. While ultimately this will be expected to increase the number of golf visitors (and therefore expenditure and economic activity), it also raises the importance of capturing the expenditure of overseas members of golf clubs that are not captured through the current approach. As part of improving our knowledge of the size and profile of the market, we suggest that future surveys of golf tourists and courses should capture data on these numbers. Future development of golf
tourism

1.13

1.14

1.15

This report provides an overview of Scotland’s high quality product (including some areas for improvement), the characteristics of golf visitors and the challenging economic context for future development. But importantly from SE’s perspective it highlights that there are around 70 golf courses that generate the majority (75%) of the economic benefits for Scotland. SE’s role should be to focus on the 70 – 80 golf clubs that generate the large majority of tourist activity and specifically those that have the potential to increase that activity. Through the process of consultation and review of previous reports and other materials we have drawn a number of conclusions, summarised as: • A need for much more reliable data on the scale and profile of the golf market

1.16

4

For example, in very simple terms if a golf tourism business has an annual turnover of £100,000 but spends £50,000 on bought in goods and services, then it generates £50,000 in GVA. 3

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

• • • •

A sense of fragmentation and need for leadership (which the new Framework is expected to address) A willingness to develop golf tourism A need for greater transparency on the marketing activities being led by VisitScotland Consensus on the types of activities that need to be taken forward, namely: Better capture of information on visiting golfers by courses More joined up working between different types of service providers e.g. hotels Greater and better use of ICT Increasing innovation (relating to new products/ use of IT/ marketing/ customer service) Improving customer service.

Structure of the report
1.17 The remainder of the report is structured as follows: • • • • • • • • Section 2 – economic impact of golf tourism Section 3 – golf tourism product Section 4 – profile of visitors and key markets Section 5 – golf tourism development Section 6 – conclusions and recommendations Annex A – consultees Annex B – list of Scotland’s golf courses Annex C – Golf Tourism Scotland research.

4

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

2: Economic impact of golf tourism

2.1

This first section examines the economic impact of golf tourism in Scotland. This is based on estimates of expenditure by visiting golfers, the output that is generated in the Scottish economy to meet this demand and the GVA that this contributes to the Scottish economy. The two main aspects of economic impact that we will be considering are: • Expenditure of visiting golfers – this is the largest element of the golf tourism impact and is generated by the spending by golf tourists staying overnight in Scotland. These visitors are assumed to bring additional expenditure into Scotland as a result of the presence of Scotland’s golf facilities. In contrast, day visitors are predominantly residents and their expenditure is not assumed to be additional (in other words it does not bring “new expenditure” into Scotland).5 Visitor expenditure generated by major golf events – staging events such as the Open Championship and the Scottish Open attracts golf visitors from other parts of the UK and further afield. It is also likely to have an important effect on raising the profile of golf in Scotland, which in turn will ultimately contribute to the number of visiting golfers.

•

2.2

We also highlight private sector investment in new golf facilities and resorts. This is an indirect impact of golf tourism but is becoming increasingly important to the Scottish economy.

Expenditure of visiting golfers
2.3 The research is focussed primarily on the spending by golf tourists staying overnight in Scotland. There are two approaches to establishing the expenditure of golf tourists. • The first would be to estimate how many tourists come to Scotland to play golf, making use of general travel surveys (UK Tourism Survey and International Passenger Survey) together with golf specific surveys to establish average expenditure levels. This was the approach adopted in SQW’s 2002 analysis of golf tourism in Scotland6, and was the most appropriate approach based on the data available at that time. An alternative ‘bottom-up’ approach developed by GTS has been to use estimates of visitor green fees from the clubs themselves and extrapolate to estimate the full golf trip expenditure. GTS has gathered together green fee expenditure data for 2008 from nearly 200 golf courses across Scotland (which represents 36% of the total number). This sample includes all those courses involved in the Golf Tourism Monitor, therefore covering the majority of visitor spend.

•

5

Whilst it is possible that some day-visitors playing golf in the South of Scotland may originate from the North of England, there is currently no way of quantifying this figure 6 SQW Consulting (2002), Evolving the ‘New Strategy for Scottish Golf Tourism’ – Establishing the Business Case 5

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

2.4

We have used the data gathered and analysed by GTS as the basis for the estimates presented in this report. Using visitor green fees to calculate total visitor expenditure

2.5

The first stage in the GTS analysis was to categorise Scotland’s courses by type (links/coastal and inland) and by the amount of visitor green fee revenue. Using the data from their sample they then calculated an average green fee for each category and extrapolated from this to the full population of courses. The final stage of the analysis was to estimate the split between day visitors and staying visitors, by type of course. GTS’ analysis estimates that there was just under £30 million spent on green fees by staying golfers in Scotland in 2008 (Table 2-1). It also estimated that golf day visitors spent £37 million in 2008.
Table 2-1: Split between day trip and staying visitor green fee expenditure by type of golf course (2008)
Course category Total annual visitor green fee revenue (£ millions) £1.1 Day trip:staying visitor split Day trip visitor green fee revenue (£ millions) £0.6 Staying visitor green fee revenue (£ millions) £0.5

2.6

Links/coastal, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 Inland, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 9 hole courses Total Source: GTS 2009

53:47

£3.8

52:48

£2.0

£1.8

£3.7

50:50

£1.8

£1.8

£20.1

20:80

£4.0

£16.1

£6.9

85:15

£5.9

£1.0

£7.0

66:34

£4.6

£2.4

£3.9

62:38

£2.4

£1.5

£4.8 £3.2 £54.5

40:60 50:50

£1.9 £1.6 £24.9

£2.9 £1.6 £29.6

2.7

Visitor expenditure data is available from a number of sources. These include VisitScotland’s 2006 and 2007 golfing visitor surveys, MW Associates’ 2005 survey of visiting golfers in St Andrews, MW Associates’ annual surveys of spend by golfpass visitors and the 2002 SQW report. The GTS analysis found that for the main markets of golf visitors green fees consistently represented around 25% of the total trip expenditure of staying visitors, as shown in Table 2-2.

6

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Table 2-2: GTS analysis of green fee and total trip expenditure based on VisitScotland golf visitor survey 2007 (carried out by Sports Marketing Surveys)
Spend Green fees as % of total Scotland residents 25% Rest of UK 26% USA 24% Sweden 23% Other Europe 16%

Source: GTS analysis based on SMS data 2007

2.8

Using the average ratio of green fees to overall trip expenditure gives a consistent ratio of 25% for almost all types of staying visitor. Applying this to the estimated value of green fees gives total expenditure of staying golfers is around £119 million. Multiplier effects

2.9

This increase in demand for tourism services creates further economic activity through ‘multiplier’ effects. These businesses will need to purchase more inputs (i.e. goods and services) and this generates additional demand for suppliers, many of which are likely to be based locally (known as the supplier multiplier effect). A second effect is known as the income multiplier and captures the additional household income and profits that are recycled in the economy as a result of this initial increase in demand. To estimate the total output, employment and GVA effects, the expenditure has been divided into two categories: • • Green fees Other expenditure (assumed to be mostly tourism-related).

2.10

2.11

Multiplier values have been drawn from the Scottish Government Input Output data7 for two categories. For the expenditure on green fees we have applied the ratios derived for, recreation services (industry group 121). For the other expenditure we have used multiplier values for hotels, catering and pubs etc. (industry group 92). The input output tables provide output multipliers (Type 2) as well as ratios for employment and GVA effects (Table 2-3).
Table 2-3: Estimates of Output, employment and GVA using national multiplier ratios
Direct expenditure Green Fees Other expenditure Total £29.6m Output multiplier 1.84 Employment effect 18.83 GVA effect 0.89 Gross Value Added £26.4m

Output £54.5m

Jobs 558

£88.9m £118.6m

1.53

£136.1m £190.6m

36.5

3,246 3,804

0.97

£86.3m £112.6m

Source: SQW estimates combining GTS 2008 estimates of expenditure and Scottish Government Input Output table ratios

2.12

Together these effects add a further £72 million, giving a total output of £191 million. This would support around 3,800 jobs and contribute GVA of £113 million to the Scottish economy.

7

See http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/133434/0079651.xls 7

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

Overseas members 2.13 It should be noted that these figures exclude the expenditure of a growing number of overseas members of Scottish golf clubs who will not pay green fees. Although the number may be relatively small, their expenditure is likely to be disproportionately high. We recommend that future golf market research should investigate the scale of overseas membership and the frequency of their visits.

Visitor expenditure generated by major golf events
2.14 In addition to those that come to Scotland to play golf, many also come to attend major golf events.
This type of visitor makes an important contribution to golf tourism in Scotland. Scotland regularly hosts the Open Championships and welcomes the Ryder Cup to Gleneagles in 2014. Both of these events generate significant economic impact. In addition, we also need to take into account events such as the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, the Senior British Open and the British Women’s Open. Table 2-4 shows the major golf events that have been held in Scotland over the last four years for which attendance numbers for at least one year are
available.
Table 2-4: Major golf events held in Scotland over last four years
Event The Open Championship Scottish Open Senior British Open British Women’s Open Johnnie Walker Championship Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Ladies Scottish Open Source: Event websites 2005 2006 2007 2008

Existing economic impact assessments 2.15 In order to estimate the economic impact of these events, we have reviewed three economic impact assessments which have been recently undertaken for the 2005 Open Championship8, the 2005 Senior Open Championship9 and the De Vere Ladies Scottish Open in 200710. These reports estimate the benefits in terms of net additional expenditure generated by the event, jobs created by this additional spend and the advertising equivalent value of the media exposure11. The impact of these events is shown in Table 2-5.

Comperio Research (2005), The Open Championship Economic Impact Assessment Comperio Research (2005), The Senior British Open Economic Impact Assessment 10 EKOS (2007), The Economic Impact of the De Vere Ladies Scottish Open 11 Although included in the original economic impact assessments, we have not incorporated the value of media exposure in our own analysis as this calculation can be very problematic
9

8

8

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Table 2-5: Economic impact of recent golf events on Scotland (2009 prices)
Event Economic impact – local (£ m) 25.6 1.2 0.2 Economic impact – Scotland (£ m) 35.8 1.2 0.4 Employment – local (FTE) 564 33 5 Employment – Scotland (FTE) 900 37 13

2005 Open Championship 2005 Senior Open Championship 2007 Ladies Scottish Open Source: Comperio and EKOS research

2.16

The Open Championship clearly generates the highest economic impact due to: • • • higher visitor numbers attending the Open Championship compared to the Senior Open Championship or Ladies Scottish Open a higher proportion of visitors to the Open travelling from outwith Scotland - they tend to have a higher spend per day and stay for a longer period of time spending by local residents at events is not included as it is expected that they would have spent the money in the local economy anyway (substitution effect). This means that the Ladies Scottish Open and Senior British Open generate less economic impact as there is a higher proportion of local residents attending these events spending by corporate guests, the media, players and their entourages, workers and contractors and organisational spending is also much higher at the Open because of the scale of this event, and in some cases the higher spend per head of these groups significantly greater media exposure for the Open Championship compared to the other two events.

•

•

Estimating the impact of other events 2.17 Based on these economic impact assessments, we have estimated the economic impact of other regular golf events in Scotland, including: • • • • 2.18 The Scottish Open The Johnnie Walker Championship The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship The Women’s British Open

In order to start to estimate the economic impact of these events, we have identified the estimated visitor numbers from a number of sources listed below (Table 2-6).

9

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Table 2-6: Attendances and estimated visitor numbers at selected Scottish golf events
Event Year Attendance Source Average no of days per visitor 1.33 Source Estimated no of visitors 20,470

The Senior Open

2007

27,225

http://sport.scotsman.co m/the2007open/Glorious -month-of-golfattracts.3313952.jp http://sport.scotsman.co m/the2007open/Glorious -month-of-golfattracts.3313952.jp http://sport.scotsman.co m/the2007open/Glorious -month-of-golfattracts.3313952.jp http://sport.scotsman.co m/the2007open/Glorious -month-of-golfattracts.3313952.jp http://www.johnniewalke rchampionship.com/

Comperio figure used for previous Senior Open Comperio figure used for the previous Open championship Ekos figure used for the Ladies Scottish Open

The Open Championship

2007

154,000

2.4

64,167

Scottish Open

2007

84,429

1.33

63,480

Women’s British Open

2007

61,050

1.33 Ekos figure used for the Ladies Scottish Open 1.33 Ekos figure used for the Ladies Scottish Open

45,902

Johnnie Walker Championship Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

2008

33,000

24,812

2008

30,000

Event Scotland consultation

1.33

Ekos figure used for the Ladies Scottish Open

22,556

2.19

For the events without economic impact assessments, we have assumed that the profile of visitors (split between day and overnight visitors, days spent at the event) would be more in line with the 2007 De Vere Ladies Scottish Open than the 2005 Open Championship. As a result we have applied the figure of 1.33 days per visitor to the number of overall attendees to give us an estimate of event visitors. Only a small proportion of the people attending these events will be from outwith Scotland, unlike the Open Championship which attracts a high percentage of spectators from the rest of the UK and overseas and therefore has a much higher average number of days in attendance per visitor. The number of event visitors has then been multiplied by relevant spend per head figures. For example, the 2007 Open Championship visitor spend was calculated as follows:
Figure 2-1: Calculating the 2007 Open Championship net visitor spend

2.20

average net spend per head12 (before multipliers) multiplied by the number of visitors at 2007 Open equals aggregate net visitor spend at 2007 Open
12

As identified by the economic impact assessment of the 2005 Open Championship 10

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

2.21

For the smaller events it was not appropriate to use Open Championship expenditure figures due to the larger number of overnight visitors. Instead we have used average spend per head figures from the Seniors Open and the Ladies Scottish Open. Multipliers were then applied to give the estimated net visitor spend for each of the events. Economic impact will also have been generated by corporate guests and media representatives. However since these figures are unavailable for the non evaluated events, we have estimated the number by calculating the number of corporate guests and media representatives present at the 2005 Open, the 2005 Senior Open and the 2007 Ladies Scottish Open as a percentage of overall visitor numbers (Table 2-7).
Table 2-7: Other types of attendees as a percentage of visitors
Event 2005 British Open 2005 Senior British Open 2007 Ladies Scottish Open Average Source: Comperio and EKOS research Corporate 6.0% 4.5% 4.0% 4.8% Media 2.8% 1.1% 2.2% 2.0%

2.22

2.23

The average of these percentages has been applied to the non-evaluated events. This gives the estimated number of attendees in each of these groups which can then be multiplied by the average spend per head of each group identified by the economic impact assessment reports using the same logic as for the visitor impacts. Contractor and organisational spend and worker spend were calculated using the same logic; dividing the total spend by the number of visitors to give, for example, a contractor and organisational spend per visitor for each of the evaluated events. An average was multiplied by the number of visitors to give the estimated net corporate and media economic impact for each event. Again the regional and national rural multipliers from the Scottish Tourism Multiplier Study (1992) were applied to give the estimated net impact for each of the events. The total net economic impact for each of these categories is given in Table 2-8.

2.24

11

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Table 2-8: Estimated combined economic impact of 2007 Scottish Open, 2007 Johnny Walker Championship, 2007 British Women’s Open & 2008 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
Regional (£m 2009 prices) Visitors Corporate guests Media Players Organisational and contractor Workers Total Direct impact Total direct, indirect and induced impact Source: SQW Consulting 2.9 2.3 2.6 2.2 6.2 0.6 16.9 22.3 National (£m 2009 prices) 1.7 2 2.6 2.4 6.2 0.5 15.3 24.1

Total economic impact of golf events 2.25 Table 2-9 shows the estimated national impacts of golf events in Scotland for each year between 2005 and 2008. We would stress that these are estimates based on existing work and no additional survey or consultation work has been undertaken to derive these estimates. Nevertheless, the figures do give some indication of the likely economic impact generated by golf event tourism in a given year. The figures do not include any estimates that may have been made of the value of the media coverage. The average impact between 2005 and 2008 is around £36 million for the Scottish economy. Based on the ratio of turnover to GVA (32%)13 for tourism activities this would generate around £12 million of GVA for Scotland and 612 jobs. Clearly the impact of hosting the Open Championship is the most significant, with the economic impact more than doubling in Open years compared with years when the Open Championship is hosted elsewhere in the UK.
Table 2-9: Total national impact of major golf events in Scotland, 2005 to 2008 (£ million, 2009 prices)
Event The Open Championship The Senior Open Championship The Ladies Scottish Open Others Total est. economic impact Source: SQW Consulting 2005 35.8 1.2 n/a 17.3 54.2 2006 n/a 1.2 n/a 18.4 18.4 2007 28.2 1.2 0.4 24.1 53.8 2008 n/a 1.2 0.4 17.3 18.8

2.26

2.27

Looking forward, the total economic impact each year will be affected by the ability of Scotland to retain current events and attract additional events. The Women’s British Open is to be held in Scotland five times between 2011 and 2020, the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup are
13

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/933/0065930.xls 12

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

to be played in Scotland in 2011 and 2012 respectively with the Ryder Cup following in 2014. The last of these is likely to generate significant economic impact, as evidenced by economic impact studies of previous Ryder Cups. For example, the 2006 Ryder Cup held in Ireland was estimated to generate more than €140 million14 and the 2010 event in Wales is expected to generate more than £70 million for the South Wales economy15. Event visitors who combine watching with playing 2.28 In order to avoid double-counting the impact of event visitors and other golf visitors, we need to take account of those who combine watching events with playing golf on the same trip. From existing research we know that 83,000 people attended the 2005 Open Championship and Open visitors spent £490,000 on green fee expenditure in Scotland. Assuming that this is captured within GTS’ analysis of green fees, it would result in £3.2 million of total output being double counted (after including the associated expenditure and the multiplier effects). This has been subtracted from the tourist visitor expenditure when the figures are aggregated. In order to calculate the estimated number of people attending events and playing golf, we have carried out the following steps: • Firstly it is assumed that no Open Championship day trippers would be able to combine playing with watching. This left only the 40,800 overnight visitors (49% of the total number of visitors) By dividing the total green fees spent by visitors to the Open by an estimated average green fee per round of £5016, we were able to calculate an estimated 9,800 rounds played by overnight visitors to the Open Championship According to the SMS Golf Visitor Survey 2007, the average number of rounds per trip for overnight visitors was 5.6. However, for those attending the Open Championship, the number of rounds played is likely to be much lower given the time spent watching the Open. It is therefore assumed that visitors to the Open who are also playing are only able to play half the average number of rounds (2.8 rounds) per trip Dividing the total 9,800 rounds by the number of rounds played per Open visitor (2.8) gives the estimated number of Open spectators who also played golf: 2,300 or 8.6% of the total number of overnight visitors to the Open.

2.29

•

•

•

2.30

Using these assumptions, we have been able to estimate the number of overnight event visitors who also play golf during their trip and the green fees they generate for each of the events we have looked at. Consequently it is estimated that in 2007 there were around 3,400 visitors to golf events in Scotland who also played golf. This is equivalent to around 2.5% of the total number of overnight golf visitors17. These visitors generate almost half a million

14

http://www.failteireland.ie/About-Us/News-and-Events/Economic-Impact-of-Ryder-Cup-Exceeds-Pre-EventPre 15 http://www.rydercupwales2010.com/en/docs/RCW_2010%20EIS.doc 16 SQW estimate 17 Depending on the total number of overnight golf visitors 13

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

pounds in green fee revenue. This is between 1.1% and 1.7% of the total green fees that are generated by overnight visitors to Scotland.
Table 2-10: 2007 overnight event visitors who also play golf as part of their trip
Event No. of visitors % of visitors staying overnight 49% 2% 5% 5% 20% No. of overnight visitors % of overnight visitors who also play golf 9% 9% 9% 9% 9% No. of overnight event visitors who also play golf during trip 2,695 29 197 272 19 Green fees generated by these 18 visitors (£) 377,239 4,101 27,537 38,082 2,706

Open Championship Senior Open Women’s Open Scottish Open Ladies Scottish Open Johnny Walker Championship Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Total Source: SQW Consulting

64,167 20,470 45,902 63,480 1,128

31,442 342 2,295 3,174 226

24,812

5%

1,241

9%

106

14,885

22,556

5%

1,128

9%

97

13,532

242,516

39,847

3,415

£478,082

Private sector investment
2.31 The development of commercial golf facilities or resort-style developments is a relatively new phenomenon in Scotland. However, the investment, often by overseas companies, is making a significant contribution to the Scottish economy, generating temporary employment during the construction phase and longer term jobs based in the resort. The profile and promotion of these new courses will be important in continuing to attract high spending golfers to Scotland. They will also help to create golf destinations in different regions across the country. The significant new investments over the past year, include the Castle Course at St Andrews, Carrick Golf and Spa at Loch Lomond, Machrihanish Dunes, Castle Stuart, Fairmont’s re-design of their two golf courses, re-development of Turnberry Resort, the opening of the Renaissance Club at Archerfield an the imminent opening of the Rowallan Castle development. Together this represents nearly £250 million of investment committed over the last couple of years. Planning permission has also been approved for the Trump development at the Menie estate (estimated to £1 billion of investment19), a course at Blairs Estate in Aberdeenshire (investment of £115 million), the De Vere West Linton resort development (£50 million) and a hotel complex at Whitekirk in East Lothian (£15 million). All of these projects, described in more detail in Table 2-11, are expected to support thousands of jobs in construction and subsequently in the operation of the facilities, supported through the expenditure of visitors.
18 Calculated by multiplying the number of overnight event visitors who also play golf during trip by the average green fee per round (£40) by the average number of rounds played by overnight event visitors (2.8) 19 Although it was reported in December 2008 that the house building programme part of the Trump development will be delayed because of the recession

2.32

2.33

14

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Table 2-11: Recent major golf-related investment in Scotland
Recent investment projects Castle Course, St Andrews Construction of 7 St Andrews Links Trust golf course and clubhouse. Opened in summer 2008. Carrick Golf and Spa - Loch Lomond Opened in 2007 by De Vere Group and located to the north of Cameron House on the banks of Loch Lomond Machrihanish Dunes development - Campbeltown, Argyll US resort developer Southworth has recently stepped in to ensure that this new links golf course opens this summer (2009). Development will also include three boutique hotels and a collection of luxury cottages Castle Stuart Golf Link development - Inverness Scheduled to open in July 2009, this will include 18-hole Championship Links Course, a 57 bedroom small luxury hotel and spa, 148 ‘resortownership’ lodges and apartments, and a second 18-hole seaside course. Fairmont St Andrews upgrading In 2008, Fairmont St Andrews re-designed their two golf courses (Torrance and Kittocks) refurbished hotel rooms and built a new hotel spa Turnberry Resort - Ayrshire Upgrade of Turnberry Hotel due to be completed in time for the 2009 Open Renaissance course - East Lothian Located next to Muirfield, the Renaissance Club will consist of one eighteen hole championship golf course designed by the renowned American architect Tom Doak, a state of the art clubhouse and 100 luxury lodge rooms Rowallan Castle - Kilmarnock Development of a five star hotel and golf course designed by Colin Montgomerie. Due to open spring 2009. Projects with planning approval Trump Development - Menie Estate, Aberdeenshire Development approved by Scottish Government in November 2008 for two 18-hole golf courses, a 450-room hotel, 950 holiday homes and 500 private houses at Balmedie Blairs Estate Golf Course - Banchory-Devenick, Aberdeenshire Planning permission approved in April 2008 for hotel, conference centre, the first golf course designed by Paul Lawrie, and up to 280 houses, including 60 affordable homes De Vere West Linton resort development - Scottish Borders In December 2008, planning approval was provided for a five star 150room hotel, leisure club, restaurant and conference centre to be built next to the existing Rutherford Castle Golf Club Whitekirk Hotel complex - East Lothian Plans for a 100-bedroom hotel, 21 holiday lodges, 42 homes and new 18 hole golf course alongside the existing Whitekirk Golf and Country Club course, near North Berwick. Planning approval was granted in late 2008. Source: Various online sources Value of investment (estimates) £1,000 m investment Also, hopes for around 6,000 jobs £60 million investment £20 million investment £30 million investment £20 million investment Aims to create 200 jobs £30 million investment £60 million investment th Value of investment (estimates) £10 million investment

£13 million investment

£115 million investment Aims to create 1000 jobs

£50 million investment Up to 300 jobs anticipated

£15 million investment Aims to create 150 jobs

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Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

2.34

However, there are other projects which have been withdrawn as a result of the economic conditions, or are in doubt. For example, the £40 million Ury Castle Estate development near Stonehaven, plans to redevelop Hazlehead Golf Course in Aberdeen as a £24 million leisure complex and the redevelopment of Taymouth Castle, near Kenmore in Perthshire have all recently been significantly delayed or even scrapped. The significant value of these types of investment has and will continue to generate employment and GVA in Scotland. As importantly it helps raise the quality of Scotland’s golf product and enhances our reputation for fine courses.

2.35

Summary of economic impact
Golf tourism generates around £220 million of output in the Scottish economy. This includes the value of the output generated by visiting golfers staying overnight (£187 million) and a further £36 million through expenditure by visitors to the major golf events (on average). This generates GVA of around £120 million and supports 4,400 jobs. These figures include the multiplier or knock-on effects that are created for suppliers and through the re-spending of the income it generates. They have also been adjusted for double counting of visitors to golf events who also play during their trip (and would therefore be included in both sets of figures).

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Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

3: Golf tourism product

3.1

In this section we review the golf tourism product in Scotland. This includes not only the golf courses but also accommodation, customer service and the other associated facilities available to golf tourists coming to Scotland.

Golf courses
3.2 Scotland is known around the world as the home of golf and this reputation is reinforced by the presence of the nine Open Championship venues – St Andrews, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Royal Troon and Turnberry. Scotland will also be staging the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in 2014. St Andrews is also home to the Royal and Ancient Club, the governing body for golf. There are currently 550 golf courses spread across Scotland. Figure 3-1 shows the number of golf courses in each of Scotland’s golf regions and also highlights the proportions of inland and links courses across the country (just under a fifth of all courses). A full list of Scotland’s golf courses is attached as Annex B.
Figure 3-1: Scotland’s golf courses

3.3

North East Highlands & Islands
59 golf courses 23 links courses
e.g. Nairn, Royal Dornoch

72 golf courses 22 links courses
e.g. Cruden Bay, Royal Aberdeen

Central
120 golf courses no links courses
e.g. Glasgow Gailes, Loch Lomond

Historic Heartland
107 golf courses 26 links courses
e.g. Carnoustie, St Andrews Old

South West
104 golf courses 32 links courses
e.g. Prestwick, Turnberry

South East
88 golf courses 14 links courses
e.g Muirfield, Gullane

Source: Course details taken from VisitScotland’s Official Guide to Golf

3.4

According to KPMG’s Golf Benchmark Survey, Scotland has one of the highest levels of supply of golf courses per head of population – one course for every 9,300 people20, but
20

KPMG (2007), Golf Benchmark Survey 2007 – Great Britain and Ireland 17

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

also a great range of different types of course from the links courses that Scotland is most famous for and world class inland courses at Loch Lomond and Gleneagles through to the small and unusual courses such as the 12 hole Shiskine course on Arran and the Askernish course on South Uist. 3.5 Scotland’s main asset is not just the overall number of courses and range but also the number of high quality courses, often set in spectacular landscape. Based on discussions with industry stakeholders, the unique nature and challenge of playing the country’s links courses are major factors in attracting so many golf tourists to Scotland. These courses differ are not only in physical terms but also in the way that they are managed, their dependency on visiting golfers and the markets which they target. Table 3-1 shows the changing profile of Scotland’s golf courses over the last twenty years and significantly the increase in the proportion of commercially run courses. In 2003, around 72% of courses were managed by members’ clubs, 11% were municipal and 17% were commercially run21.
Table 3-1: Management of Scotland’s golf courses
Members’ clubs 1980 2003 83% 72% Municipal 15% 11% Commercial 2% 17%

3.6

Source: Price (2003), Scotland’s Golf Facilities, Provision, Management and Usage

3.7

However it is clear that a large proportion is still managed by small privately-owned committee run clubs. In many cases, these clubs are only concerned with their members and in the past have not needed to promote to visitors. This attitude may now be changing with the impact of the recession and falling club memberships. Complacency was one of the main weaknesses identified by consultees and there was a suggestion that golf clubs (and other golf tourism businesses) cannot simply rely on Scotland’s reputation, but need to be more proactive in promoting the product to potential visitors. This rise in the number of commercial courses is important as visitors tend to be a far more important market than for courses with club membership. The Golf Tourism Monitor (2007) found that “commercial courses attract around 50% more visitor rounds than members’ club courses, many of which limit the times available to visitors. Municipal courses, many of which are heavily used by local golfers, record the lowest numbers of visitors.”

3.8

3.9

3.10

Recent research undertaken by Golf Tourism Scotland has classified all of Scotland’s courses by type of course (links/coastal and inland) and the scale of visitor green fee revenue (Table 3-2). It shows that there are 68 courses generating over £150,000 in visitor green fees. Based on this analysis, these courses generate around £22.3 million in visitor green fees from overnight visitors, representing 75% of all green fees generated by overnight visitors.
21

3.11

Price (2003), Scotland’s Golf Facilities, Provision, Management and Usage 18

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

3.12

These courses are the ones bringing the additional tourism benefits to Scotland and therefore should be the focus of public sector support.
Table 3-2: Split between day trip and staying visitor green fee expenditure by type of golf course (2008)
Course category No of courses Total annual visitor green fee revenue (£ million) Day trip:staying visitor split Day trip visitor green fee revenue (£ million £0.6 Staying visitor green fee revenue (£ million £0.5

Links/coastal, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 Inland, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 9 hole courses Total Source: GTS 2009

30

£1.1

53:47

34

£3.8

52:48

£2.0

£1.8

18

£3.7

50:50

£1.8

£1.8

22

£20.1

20:80

£4.0

£16.1

200

£6.9

85:15

£5.9

£1.0

68

£7.0

66:34

£4.6

£2.4

20

£3.9

62:38

£2.4

£1.5

8 147 547

£4.8 £3.2 £54.5

40:60 50:50

£1.9 £1.6 £24.9

£2.9 £1.6 £29.6

3.13

Price (2003) also estimates a similar number of courses that target visitors ‘if it is assumed that the golf tourists require a good quality golfing experience plus good quality accommodation at or near the golf course, then Scotland has about 70 good quality golf tourism facilities’22. Many of these 70 courses are likely to already be involved in golf tourism through membership of GTS – there are currently 35 courses who are members and these are listed below (Table 3-3).

3.14

22

Price (2003), Scotland’s Golf Facilities, Provision, Management and Usage 19

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Table 3-3: Golf courses which are members of GTS
Golf course Alford Golf Club Boat of Garten Golf Club Brora Golf Club Brunston Castle Golf Club Carnoustie Golf Links Carrick on Loch Lomond Castle Stuart Golf Craigielaw Golf Club Crail Golfing Society Downfield Golf Club, Dundee Dunbar Golf Club Dundonald Links Elie Golf Club Fraserburgh Golf Club Glasgow Golf Club Glen Golf Club, North Berwick Gullane Golf Club Kilmarnock (Barassie) Golf Club Kingsbarns Links Largs Golf Club Longniddry Golf Club Machrihanish Golf Club Murcar Links Golf Club Nairn Golf Club Newburgh On Ythan Golf Club North Berwick Golf Club Panmure Golf Club, Carnoustie Prestwick Golf Club Prestwick St Nicholas Royal Dornoch Golf Club Scotscraig Golf Club Spey Valley Golf Course The Dukes, St Andrews Turnberry Ailsa Course Western Gailes Golf Club Source: Golf Tourism Scotland website Region North East Highlands and Islands Highlands and Islands South West Historic Heartlands Central Highlands and Islands South East Historic Heartlands Historic Heartlands South East South West Historic Heartlands North East Central South East South East South West Historic Heartlands South West South East South West North East Highlands and Islands North East South East Historic Heartlands South West South West Highlands and Islands Historic Heartlands Highlands and Islands Historic Heartlands South West South West

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Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

Other golf tourism businesses
3.15 There is a range of other businesses that rely on golf tourists – these include hotels, B&Bs, restaurants and other service-sector businesses. In terms of golfing accommodation, the numbers are very difficult to quantify as these establishments are likely to cater for all types of tourist. However it is possible to identify the 170 accommodation providers that participate in VisitScotland’s Visiting Golfers Welcome quality assurance scheme. These businesses can be broken down as follows (Table 3-4).
Table 3-4: Golf accommodation
Accommodation type Hotels B&Bs and guest houses Inns and restaurants with rooms Serviced apartments Hostels, lodges and campus Self catering, caravans and camping Total accommodation providers Source: VisitScotland’s Official Guide to Golf Number of providers 56 57 8 1 1 47 170

3.16

Our consultations highlighted that customer service can be quite patchy and stated that golf tourism businesses need to be more welcoming in terms of facilities for golf visitors (e.g. drying areas) and adopting a more flexible approach (e.g. opening times for hotel bar and restaurant). Some of these things can be quite basic but actually make a big difference to the quality of visitor experience. The type of accommodation used varies by market. For example, overseas golfers are more likely to stay in five star hotels or resorts and UK visitors tend to stay more in B&Bs or guest houses (Figure 3-2).
Figure 3-2: Type of accommodation used by golf visitors
40% 1 & 2* Hotel 35% 3* Hotel 30% 4* Hotel 5* Hotel 25% Golf resort 20% B&B/Guesthouse Self Catering Caravan/Camping 10% Staying with family/friends Second home Other 0% Total UK incl. Scotland & Eire Overseas

% of respondents

15%

5%

Source: SMS Visitor Survey 2007

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Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

3.17

Although Scotland generally has a good range of accommodation available to visiting golfers, there are some more isolated areas where availability of accommodation can be an issue. For example, some consultees stated that it would be good to have more budget hotels near golf courses – however, the reality is that these tend to be located in more urban areas.

Transport infrastructure and accessibility
3.18 Cheaper air travel and the opening of new routes have facilitated overseas access to Scotland’s golf courses over the last decade and it is hoped by consultees that this trend will continue in the future. It should be highlighted though that these new flights may also help to take Scottish golfers abroad to the growing number of competitor countries. On one hand Scotland is still considered to be quite peripheral. Feedback from those consultees who attend international events and shows reinforced the view that golfers, in London and Europe consider Scotland to be difficult to reach. However, consultees also emphasised that also once visitors arrive in Scotland, the size of the country makes it quite easy to travel around and visit many of the famous courses. Most golfers arrive in Scotland by plane (Figure 3-3). Once they are here they tend to travel by car or mini-bus – usually public transport is not suitable for carrying golf bags as well as luggage. Several consultees considered that visitor information and signage to the main golf courses could be improved. Almost a quarter of all the visitors in the SMS survey (2007) travelled by coach or minibus.
Figure 3-3: Mode of transport to Scotland

3.19

Bus Train Ferry Other Coach/mini-bus Own car Hire car Plane 0%

4.9% 5.3% 5.4% 6.8% 21.4% 26.6% 26.6% 67.7% 10% 20% 30% 40%
% of respondents

50%

60%

70%

80%

Source: SMS Visitor Survey 2007

Booking systems
3.20 One of the product weaknesses identified by consultees was the restricted availability of teetimes. Since the majority of courses in Scotland are run by members’ clubs, it is sometimes difficult for visitors to book a tee-time especially at the weekend. The lack of online booking
22

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

systems at most clubs makes it even more difficult for visitors to quickly find out when he or she will be able to play. 3.21 Like most tourism products, visitors are increasingly using email and the internet to find information and to make bookings independently. A comparison of the 2006 and 2007 SMS visitor surveys suggests that the use of email to book tee times is on the increase for both UK and overseas visitors. It is believed that this growth will continue over the next year or so with fewer large groups/corporate events and more independent bookings. For prospective visitors from the US, it is not always practical for them to contact the club by telephone because of the time differences. Providing more online information, including online tee times, is crucial to be able to compete internationally. In the past, with strong membership bases this was less important for golf clubs and courses, but now with greater competition and weakening local demand, responding to customers will be a higher priority for some courses. In 2007, nearly a third of visitors booked either by email or online (Figure 3-4).
Figure 3-4: Method of booking

3.22

3.23

80% 69% Total 61% 60% UK incl. Scotland & Eire 49% Overseas

70%

% of respondents

50%

40% 30% 30% 22% 20% 14% 15% 13% 6% 6% 4% 4% 4% 3% 23%

10%

0%

Telephone

Email

In Person

Online

Fax

Source: SMS Visitor Survey 2007

Overview of Scotland’s golf tourism product
3.24 The overwhelming influence on visitor’s decision to come to Scotland to play golf is Scotland’s reputation as a golfing destination. Previous experience is also a strong influence. These two factors were also the most commonly stated reasons for visiting Scotland in the 2007 SMS Visitor Survey. Consultees reported that Scotland’s reputation as the ‘home of golf’ was the single most important factor that attracts visitors to play here. However, the international research carried out by KPMG indicates that for the market as whole ‘golf tradition’ is a relatively weak factor and climate, quality of courses, prices and accessibility are the main influences (Figure 3-5). While Scotland has the quality of courses,
23

3.25

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

its tradition as “the home of golf” will not necessarily be a strong an influence in some markets. Arguably Scotland is much weaker in terms of perceptions of climate, accessibility and price.
Figure 3-5: KPMG international research on the main influences on choosing a golf destination
Sightseeing Golf tradition Entertainment/nightlife Relaxing surroundings Gastronomy No. of courses Quality of accommodation Accessibility Price Quality of golf courses Climate
Not Important Very

Source: KPMG Golf Travel Insight 2008

3.26

It is interesting to compare this international work with the views of those that have come to Scotland (as reflected in the SMS 2007 visitor survey). The strength of Scotland’s reputation as a destination is backed up by the quality of courses. Almost half (46%) of all respondents stated that the golf courses themselves were the most positive aspect of their trip and a further 21% stated that the “experience” of golf in Scotland was the most positive aspect. This is shown in Figure 3-6 below. Together these statistics suggest that the reputation of Scotland is strong among those that make the trip, but there are many others for whom tradition and reputation is less important and price, climate and accessibility are. Potentially a much larger market could be attracted if perceptions of these factors could be improved.

3.27

24

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Figure 3-6: Most positive aspects of the trip

1% 1% 4% 4% 5% 3% 5%

Golf Courses Experience of golf in Scotland The Scottish Welcome Weather Accommodation Food & Drink 46% Scenery

21%

Peaceful Others

Source: SMS Visitor Survey 2007

Areas for improvement 3.28 The weather is by far the biggest barrier to attracting more visitors to Scotland, as is shown in Figure 3-7. Although Scotland has traditionally had a reputation as an expensive golf destination, price was only highlighted by 3% of respondents in the survey. Our consultations suggested that price was perhaps not such an issue for actually playing golf in Scotland - the problem was more the price of accommodation and eating out in restaurants. Others suggested that recent changes to exchange rates have made price less of an issue for visitors. Interestingly, several consultees highlighted that the higher cost reflected the high quality of Scotland as a golf destination.

25

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Figure 3-7: Most negative aspects of the trip

Weather Nothing 30% 33% Directions/Traffic Costs Food & Drink 1% 2% 3% 3% 3% 25% Busy Courses Others Accommodation

Source: SMS Visitor Survey 2007

Product summary
3.29 The SWOT analysis in Table 3-5 summarises the feedback from the consultations on Scotland’s golf product.
Table 3-5: Golf tourism product SWOT analysis
Strengths • • • Quality of golf courses, especially links courses Spectacular scenery at all golf courses Accessibility – relatively short distances to travel within Scotland and opportunity to play major courses Reputation and history as the home of golf – reinforced by R&A Club being based at St Andrews Profile from hosting major events, especially the Open Industry knowledge and experience, e.g. caddies • • Opportunities • • • Increasing numbers of resort developments – bringing in higher spending visitors More online booking systems More effective use of ICT to facilitate product development and enable a better understanding of key markets and opportunities More pro-active approach amongst club members Improved transport infrastructure – reopening of the Rosyth ferry link and new direct flights into Scotland Weaknesses • • • • • Scottish weather Patchy customer service in golf tourism businesses Transport infrastructure – insufficient signage and unsuitability of public transport Price – in particular costs of food and drink and accommodation Accommodation – lack of choice and limited availability in more isolated areas. Also inadequate facilities for golfers Complacency - reluctance of some clubs to modernise and accommodate visitors Lack of online booking systems

• • •

Threats • • Old-fashioned approach Reductions in direct air links (although these flights also enable Scottish golfers to play elsewhere)

• •

Source: SQW Consulting

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Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

3.30

While these address both aspects of demand (through marketing) and supply, SE’s focus is specifically on the supply side and on the operation of golf tourism businesses. Of the issues raised the most relevant for SE are: • • • • The need to improve customer service Overcoming complacency and encouraging innovation Facilitating joint products and services Greater and better use of ICT to provide information and online booking systems, and also to build up customer relationship databases.

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Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

4: Profile of visitors and key markets

4.1

This section provides an analysis of the types of visitors playing golf in Scotland, their characteristics and motivations. We also look at international trends and discuss the markets that are likely to be important to Scotland over the coming years.

Domestic demand
4.2 Scotland has one of the highest golf participation rates in the world with 254,435 registered golfers in 2007, representing 5% of the population23. This is higher than the GB average of 2.1% but not quite as high as the estimated participation rate of 6% in Ireland (Table 4-1). According to SportScotland, the participation rate for golf amongst adults in Scotland is 8% (15% for men and 2% for women).24 This definition includes adults playing golf at least once a month.
Table 4-1: Supply and demand figures of Great Britain and Ireland (2007)
Countries/regions England Scotland Wales Total GB Ireland Courses* 1,961 548 158 2,667 417 Pop per course 25,058 9,343 18,374 22,634 9,843 Players 950,204 254,435 70,000 1,274,639 287,000** Golfers per course 485 464 443 478 688 Participation rate 1.9% 5.0% 2.4% 2.1% **

Source: EGA, national golf federations and KPMG * Regular golf courses as provided by national golf federations ** Includes affiliated golfers in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Based on the size of the average membership of golf courses in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, KPMG estimate that the participation rate for the Republic of Ireland by itself is ion excess of 6.0%

Visitor numbers
UKTS and IPS 4.3 There are basically two possible ways of estimating the number of golf visitors that come to Scotland. The first approach would be to use the estimates produced by UK Tourism Survey (UKTS) and published by VisitScotland. The latest figures for 2007 show that there was an estimated 13 million overnight trips to Scotland. Those trips ‘involving golf as an activity’ totalled nearly 380,000 and trips with ‘golf as the main activity’ were estimated at 180,000. Table 4-2 shows results from the UKTS on the number of trips made by UK visitors with golf as the main purpose of the trip. Since 2000, the number of golf trips has fluctuated from 140,000 to 300,000. These figures are only for UK tourists not international visitors and the
23 24

4.4

KPMG (2007), Golf Benchmark Survey 2007 – Great Britain and Ireland SportScotland (2008), Sports Participation: Golf Fact Sheet 28

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

change in methodology and the relatively small sample mean that the figures are not considered to be very robust.
Table 4-2: UK visitors to Scotland – golf as the main purpose of trip
Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 No of trips (m) 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.14 0.18 Bednights (m) 1.1 0.9 1.1 0.9 0.9 0.7 Expenditure (£m) 93 99 105 88 29 56

Source: UKTS and VisitScotland (2004-05 figures unavailable due to change in survey methodology)

4.5

Based on the latest figures from 2007, the average spend per trip works out at £313, nearly 50% higher than the equivalent figure for all UK visitors to Scotland (£216). However it should be pointed out that this golf spend figure is based on a very small sample of 87 visitors and is much lower than specific golf surveys, such as the MW Associates work in St Andrews or the SMS visitor surveys which show UK tourist expenditure of around £700 per trip. From the UKTS data the breakdown of their expenditure is shown in Table 4-3. Excluding the amount spent on travel (which could include flights to Scotland), the amount spent on entertainment (in this case presumably playing golf) is around 23% of the total spend. This is close to the 1:4 spend ratio between golf and total spend highlighted in the economic impact section of the report.
Table 4-3: Breakdown of UK golfers’ expenditure
Expenditure category Price of package holiday/inclusive trip Accommodation Travel costs to and from destination, and during the trip Buying clothes Eating and drinking out Other shopping Entertainment Total expenditure (based on sample of 87 visitors) Source: UKTS and VisitScotland Amount (£m) 0.04 16.15 10.6 0.07 11.88 4.03 10.73 56.36 % 0.1% 28.7% 18.8% 0.1% 21.1% 7.2% 19.0% 100%

4.6

4.7

The International Passenger Survey (IPS) is the other main survey but this does not identify golf trips. It does however illustrate the main overseas markets for Scottish tourism more generally. IPS data for Scotland shows that the US is the biggest overseas market with 417,000 trips generating over a quarter of a million pounds annually (Table 4-4).
29

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Table 4-4: All overseas visitors to Scotland (IPS 2007)
Country USA Germany Irish Republic Italy Canada Spain France Netherlands Australia Poland Sweden Rest of World Total Source: VisitScotland website Trips [phone] 309 187 124 184 168 141 118 114 93 629 2,791 Bednights (m) 3.63 2.76 1.21 1.25 1.42 1.21 1.49 1.03 1.29 2.59 0.55 6.11 24.54 Expenditure (£m) 257 187 96 92 83 82 57 55 52 40 39 327 1,367

Estimating the profile of golf visitors 4.8 The alternative approach to estimating the number of visitors is to build the figures up using information on visitor rounds collected through the GTS Golf Tourism Monitor. The results have included an allowance for winter rounds (assumed to be 10% of the April to October season) and have used the proportion of staying visitors for each type of course estimated by GTS and shown in section two of the report.

30

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Table 4-5: Estimate of staying visitor rounds (2008)
Average staying visitor rounds per year from Golf Tourism Monitor 2008 765 2,501

Type of course Links/coastal, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 Inland, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 Total Source: SQW estimates based on GTS data

No of courses 30 34

Total rounds 22,954 85,039

18

3,446

62,023

22

11,768

258,901

200

320

64,086

68

1,679

114,164

20

1,679

33,578

8

6,483

51,865 692,610

4.9

The SMS visitor survey provides estimates of the numbers of rounds played by golfers from different origins. This information can be used alongside their estimates of the profile of visitors to derive numbers of visitors for each geography. The VisitScotland survey carried out by SMS in 2006 and 2007 has been used to assess the number of rounds played visitors from each country. Based on the interviews 20% are from the USA, but because they play more rounds, the proportion of the total trips made is lower (14%) while the opposite is true for UK visitors. In total, there are just over 135,000 trips in total of which 70% (95,000) are made by UK residents. The biggest non-UK market is the US with an estimated 19,000 trips made each year to Scotland.

4.10

31

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Table 4-6: Number of overnight visitors by origin and spend levels
% of interviews/ rounds (1) Number of rounds Average number of rounds per trip (2) 4.3 4.7 4.2 7.3 5.5 7 No of trips % of trips

Scotland Rest of UK Eire USA Rest of Europe Other Total

24% 38% 3% 20% 8% 8%

164,166 266,020 17,974 139,002 52,725 52,725 692,612

38,178 56,600 4,280 19,041 9,586 7,532 135,219

28% 42% 3% 14% 7% 6%

Source: GTS estimates combined with SMS Visitor Surveys (1) 2006 (2) 2007 Note: Number of rounds does not match total in previous Table due to rounding

4.11

The breakdown of visitors by geography is shown in Figure 4-1.
Figure 4-1: Number of golf visitors by origin
60,000

50,000

Number of visitors

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

0 Scotland Rest of UK Eire USA Other Europe Other

Source: SQW estimates from GTS data 2008

Visitor profile
4.12 Although there are considerable problems estimating the numbers of golfers from geographic markets, their behaviour and profile is generally well-understood from research that has been commissioned by VisitScotland. The visitor survey carried out by SMS in 2007 contains a lot of data on demographics, length of stay, how much they spend and accommodation and transport used by visitors. We have selected some of the key data to provide an overview of visitor characteristics.

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Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

Average length of stay 4.13 Visitors travelling greater distances to Scotland tend to stay for longer periods of time, as is shown in Figure 4-2. On average, US visitors stay for 10 nights with visitors from outside Europe or the USA staying for almost two weeks (12 nights). Overnight visitors from Scotland spend between four and five nights on an average golf trip.
Figure 4-2: Average length of stay
14 12.3 12 10 10 No. of nights 7.6 Nights Mean

8

7.1 5.4 5.3

Mean : 7

6

4.6 4

2

0 Other (76) USA (216) Rest of Sweden (80) Europe (143) Rest of UK (304) Eire (34) Scotland (286)

Source: SMS Visitor Survey 2007

4.14

As would be expected, visitors from the US and outside Europe also tend to play more courses and rounds during their golf trip. Survey results show that these golfers visit around five different courses and play seven rounds of golf during their trip, compared to Scottish golfers who visit two courses playing just over four rounds. Average spend by origin of visitor

4.15

Visitor expenditure is a key characteristic especially when trying to calculate economic impact. It is also notoriously difficult to establish and in their visitor surveys SMS acknowledges that some of the spend figures are based on very small sample sizes and reflect the courses where the interviews have been carried out. The 2007 figures are set out below in Table 4-7, however the values do appear to be high, especially in the ‘other’ category25. The difficulties of collecting this data are demonstrated by the quite different values captured in the 2006 survey. This showed Scottish staying visitor expenditure as half the 2007 value (£449), UK visitors spending £747 and overseas visitors spending £2,556 on average.

25

For this reason, the SMS spend figures have not been used to calculate a breakdown of visitors by origin 33

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Table 4-7: Breakdown of visitor expenditure (2007) per trip
Scotland Green fees Food and drink Travel in Scotland Accommodation Other Total £196 £160 £52 £247 £251 £906 Rest of UK £235 £130 £50 £259 £325 £999 Eire £160 £109 £21 £448 £333 £1,071 USA £749 £357 £170 £774 £1259 £3,309 Sweden £375 £200 £70 £463 £733 £1,841 Other Europe £211 £190 £70 £393 £677 £1,541

Source: SMS Visitor Survey 2007

4.16

KPMG Golf Travel Insight in EMA 2008 reports that golf tourists spend on average €150 – €180 per day on a short trip and around €250 per day on a long haul golf trip. This would give estimates of around £600 per trip for UK residents and £2,000 per trip from long haul origins. These figures would be more compatible with the overall estimate of economic impact built up from the GTS data. The KPMG research also estimated that 26% of expenditure is made on golf, 21% on travel, 20% on accommodation, 18% on food and drink and 15% on other spending. This supports the assumptions made in the economic impact estimate that 25% of golf tourism spending relates to the costs of playing. Monthly trends

4.17

4.18

According to the Golf Tourism Monitor 2008, the peak months for visitor rounds are May, June, August and September. The data in Figure 4-3 is based on 90 courses.
Figure 4-3 Average visitor rounds per course
1200

1000

800 Number of rounds

600

400

200

0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Source: Golf Tourism Monitor 2008

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Other golfer characteristics 4.19 There are a range of characteristics of golf visitors which are important from a marketing perspective. These are around the behaviour of the golf visitor including the motivation for booking a golf holiday and the expectations and the requirements once they actually come to Scotland. Research commissioned by VisitScotland has broken golfing holidaymakers into four main categories: • • • Golf buddies – these are usually groups of men from the UK (sometimes stag parties) looking for a medium priced break that combines good golf with good socialising Luxury golfers – serious golfers who want to play a number of signature courses, and who also require luxury accommodation and restaurants Golfing tourists – for these holidaymakers golf is only part of a more leisurely break that will include sight-seeing, touring. This category of golfer is much more likely to include couples and families Golf purists – these are highly competitive golfers who are solely concerned with the quality of the golf

•

4.20

Given the discussion around the product in Scotland, the main markets would most obviously be among the purists and UK golf buddies, with some luxury golfers (subject to perceptions of weather). It could be argued that while the reputation of Scotland will ensure that purists and UK buddies continue to come, competition for luxury golfers is intensifying. Further analysis of these types of golf visitors carried out by Scott Porter is reproduced in Table 4-8.

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Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise Table 4-8: Profiling of golf visitors
Category Motivation Requirements Profile Location for a break (1-4 nights) Scotland Ireland England Location for a holiday (5-14 nights) Spain Portugal USA

Golf buddies

Unrestrained socialising Leaving responsibilities behind A holiday feeling – ‘beer and banter’

Great atmosphere and good golf 3 star hotel/villa Location close to/in town Weather a key consideration Signature courses Challenging, links Top quality clubhouse 4/5 star hotel/golf resort Good weather important

Male Large groups 40 – 70 Mid handicap Casually competitive

Luxury golfers

VIP golf Unique experience Status/image

Male 30 – 50 Low/mid handicap Competitive Golf club members

Scotland Ireland England

Portugal USA

Golfing tourists

Relaxing break Golf as part of a rounded holiday experience

9/18 hole courses Good value Scenic, enjoyable courses Lots of other attractions Good value

Male and female Couples/close friends 45 – 70 Mid/high/no handicap

England Scotland Ireland Wales

France Spain Portugal

Golf purists

New and challenging golf experiences Improving game Experiencing top courses

Quality, challenging courses qualifying and Open courses, links courses etc Clusters of courses key factor for accommodation is proximity to courses

Male 25 – 40 Low handicap Small groups Serious, competitive golfers

Scotland Ireland Wales England

Scotland Spain Portugal USA

Source: Scott Porter Research & Marketing 2006

Main markets
United States 4.21 More golfers from the United States visit Scotland than from any other country outside of the UK and Ireland. US visitors tend to stay for longer and spend more per night. There are two main drivers of the higher spend per US visitor; a preference for better quality accommodation and playing at the highest profile links and Championship courses. The analysis in the previous section that there are up to 20,000 golf tourists from the USA, this is around 5% of all American visitors to Scotland.

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4.22

According to Visit Scotland research26, 99% of American visitors stated that their experience in Scotland was either good or very good. The negatives that were mentioned included a lack of suitable golf course practice areas and criticism of locker room facilities and restaurants. Sweden

4.23

Sweden is another key market for Scotland. Many Swedish visitors come to Scotland in the shoulder months (April, May and September) when fading light reduces the time to play at home. The VisitScotland research27 suggests that most Swedish visitors arrive in Scotland by plane – in 2006 it was estimated that 68% of Swedish visitors arrived in Scotland at Prestwick airport (using the Ryanair link). Customer satisfaction was once again very high (98%). Most popular accommodation was 3 and 4 star hotels and B&Bs and length of stay was between 4 and 7 nights. Given the choice to play anywhere in the world, 57% said that they would choose Scotland. Germany The VisitScotland research on German golfers found that almost half fly into Edinburgh airport and May to August were most popular months. Like the Swedes most staying 4-7 days and prefer 3 and 4 star hotels and B&Bs. Most visitors booked golf directly with the club. 92% said their experience was good or very good but there was some criticism of golf course practice areas and restaurants. Given the choice to play anywhere in the world, 44% said that they would choose Scotland. Emerging markets

4.24

In the course of our consultations we asked about where stakeholders viewed as emerging markets. Although consultees thought that in the long term, there are likely to be more visitors from the Middle East, India, China and Russia coming to Scotland to play golf, this will take years to happen. Consequently, most consultees believed that especially in the current economic climate, most efforts should be targeted at existing, albeit mature, markets in Europe and North America. These countries are where the most experienced and knowledgeable golfers are based who will always want to play at the traditional home of golf.

Golf tourism trends – growth prospects
4.25 We now consider some of the trends in golf tourism that will have an impact on Scotland’s ability to maintain or increase current levels of golf tourism. Domestic performance 4.26 The recession has had a significant impact on golf tourism in Scotland with a reduction not only in the number of visitors from particular markets. Results from GTS’ barometer survey (Table 4-9) show that over 75% of respondents have reported a drop in enquiries and

26 27

VisitScotland (2006), US Golfers Questionnaire Results and Analysis Summary VisitScotland (2006), Swedish Golfers Questionnaire Results and Analysis Summary 37

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bookings for 200928. More than a half of members have experienced a decrease of 25% in business levels compared to this time last year. Nearly 90% of respondents stated that bookings from the North American market are either down ‘a little’ or ‘a lot’. However, enquiries and bookings from Scandinavia, Continental Europe, Ireland, Asia and the Middle East appear to be relatively unchanged from 2008.
Table 4-9: What change are you noticing in your key markets?
Down a lot Scandinavian German French Irish Benelux North American Scottish Rest of UK Asia and Far East Middle East 0% 4% 0% 8% 4% 69% 4% 4% 4% 4% Down a little 26% 17% 13% 15% 13% 19% 26% 30% 21% 17% No change 48% 58% 71% 58% 78% 9% 41% 30% 75% 78% Up a little 26% 17% 17% 19% 4% 3% 19% 30% 0% 0% Up a lot 0% 4% 0% 0% 0% 0% 11% 7% 0% 0%

Source: GTS Golf Tourism Barometer (March 2009)

4.27

There was similar feedback from our consultations with stakeholders including Scottish golf tour operators. According to consultees, there has been a significant drop in the number of US golfers over the last year. It is thought that some of this drop may be partially offset by a slight increase in the number of UK visitors (choosing to play golf at home rather than travelling overseas). The reported drop in US visitors has major implications for the overall economic impact of golf tourism. If there is a 20% reduction in the number of US visitors in 2009, which is not offset by other markets, this would reduce total economic output by nearly £13 million based on SMS spend figures highlighted in Table 4-7. If we were to use an adjusted US spend per trip figure (without the ‘other’ spend), the loss in output would be around £8 million. The other major effect of the recession for golf clubs has been a drop in membership. With less disposable income many golfers are stopping their club membership and looking to make use of the increase in golf promotions. Whilst this has the effect of generating less income for the clubs, it will free up more tee-times for visitors and perhaps encourage more clubs to be more proactive and business-minded in their approach. Some consultees stated how the current recession will act as a ‘wake-up call’ for many clubs.

4.28

4.29

This survey of GTS’ membership of 120 businesses was based on a response rate of over 50%. 40% of responses were from tour operators, 17.5% from hotels, 17.5% from golf courses and the remainder from other sectors 38

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International trends 4.30 Notwithstanding the current global recession, golf is continuing to grow in popularity. Over the last 20 years the number of registered golfers in Europe has increased from 1.5 million players in 1987 to 4.3 million in 200729. Due to the continuing increase in demand, new countries have emerged as major golf holiday destinations and the value of golf tourism internationally has grown significantly. It is estimated by KPMG’s Golf Benchmark that in 2006 golf tourism in the EMA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa) generated around €6.5 billion in revenue, including multipliers, which equates to almost €2 billion in GDP, supporting around 60,000 people30. Around 82% of this revenue was spent in Europe with half of this being spent in Western Europe, primarily Spain and Portugal (as shown in Table 4-10 below). This analysis also calculates that golf tourism in GB and Ireland is worth just under €800 million. This figure provides useful context for estimates of economic impact of Scottish golf tourism provided earlier in the report.
Table 4-10: Golf tourism revenues in EMA region
Region GB & Ireland Western Europe Benelux Central Europe Eastern Europe Northern Europe South-East Mediterranean Middle East South Africa Other Africa Total Source: KPMG Golf Travel Insight 2008 % of total 12.1% 51.3% 0.9% 7.2% 0.1% 6.9% 2.8% 1.3% 3.0% 14.4% 100% Value (€ m) 790.5 3,351.4 58.8 470.4 6.5 450.8 182.9 84.9 196.0 940.8 6,533

4.31

4.32

The recent success of countries like Spain and Portugal as golf holiday destinations is reflected in Figure 4-4 below which shows the results of a survey of 80 international operators, asked for their views on where there is likely to be most demand over the coming years. This shows where traditional golfing destinations such as Scotland and Ireland are positioned in comparison to new destinations such as Turkey, Dubai and even Thailand which have all become very popular options for golf holidays. The warmer countries dominate the list, but Scotland remains above England and level with the USA. It would be difficult to challenge the four that head the list (Portugal, Spain, Turkey and Dubai).
29 30

4.33

European Golf Association website - www.ega-golf.ch/index.html KPMG (2008), Golf Travel Insight in EMA 2008 39

Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

4.34

The KPMG research states that: ‘In traditional destinations such as Scotland and Ireland, tour operators mainly expect stagnation in inbound tourism. From our research it appears that well established destinations do not seem to be losing market thanks to their deep golfing traditions and the quality of their supply, however the increasing competition does not leave much room for their further growth’31.

4.35

It appears that there is likely to continue to be strong market from “purists” or those that like the challenge and reputation of Scotland’s courses, but this may also limits the scope for growth. However, as interest in golf grows and incomes rise in markets such as China and India, there may also be more interest in visiting the “home of golf”.
Figure 4-4: Hot spots for golf tourism in the upcoming years

Portugal Spain Turkey Dubai USA South Africa Scotland Ireland Nothern Africa Thailand, Malaysia & Indonesia France Mexico & Caribbean England Eastern Europe India
Modest Demand Strong Demand

Source: KPMG Golf Travel Insight 2008

4.36

Based on our discussions with consultees and recent GTS research, it is clear that the recession is likely to have a significant impact on the golf tourism market, specifically on the number of higher spending visitors from the US and on the corporate market. Consultees highlighted that even with the weaker pound, there are likely to be fewer visitors from North America coming to Scotland to play golf in 2009. It was suggested however, that some of this loss in revenue may be offset by an increase in UK golfers staying in Scotland. Most consultees believed that the market would level out over the next couple of years before then picking up again in the mid to longer term. The effects of the recession will make it extremely difficult for golf tourism to match the growth target of 50% by 2015 set for the Scottish tourism industry as a whole. However it should be said that many stakeholders believed that this target was not achievable even before the recession.

4.37

31

KPMG (2008), Golf Travel Insight in EMA 2008 p.9 40

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Visitor market summary
4.38 Although there is a good deal known about different types of golfers visiting Scotland, the numbers are difficult to estimate. Based on the Golf Tourism Monitor data on rounds we estimate that there are: • • 4.39 700,000 rounds played by overnight golf visitors These rounds are played by 135,000 visitors

Using the VisitScotland 2006 Visitor Survey we estimate that: • • 70% of these visitors are from within the UK and 30% from overseas Of those from overseas, half would be from the USA (20,000).

4.40

Overseas golfers spend more than UK golf visitors and more than average tourists. However, the average expenditure data produced by the 2007 SMS visitor survey appears to be high relative to other sources. Although smaller in number overseas visitors are likely to generate the majority of the economic impact. The main influences on taking golf trips are weather, price, quality of courses and accessibility. From overseas Scotland attracts those that are most influenced by the quality of courses, its tradition and reputation, described as the purists, while the development of new facilities is attracting luxury golfers (although even within this group the quality of the courses must be the main driver). On this basis the KPMG research suggests that there is not much room for growth. However, with a growing interest in the game and higher incomes in a number of potentially large markets, specifically China and India, there may be new opportunities to attract visitors interested in the traditions of the game. So whilst the recession is likely to restrict growth in the short term, there remains the potential to grow the market further once the economy recovers.

4.41

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5: Golf tourism development

5.1

This section considers how golf tourism is currently being developed and promoted and what can be done differently in the future based on the feedback of industry stakeholders. We start by highlighting the main organisations involved in golf tourism development.

Golf tourism organisations
5.2 There is a wide range of organisations, at the local and national level, currently involved in developing golf tourism in Scotland. Those organisations with a national remit are: • Golf Tourism Scotland – GTS was set up in 2005 and aims to represent the diverse interests of the industry and influence public and private sector activities relating to the development and marketing of golf tourism. Its membership is made up of golf courses, accommodation providers, resorts and tour operators and currently has around 130 member organisations. GTS collates industry information through the annual Golf Tourism Monitor and the monthly Golf Tourism Barometer. GTS works in partnership with VisitScotland and Scottish Enterprise in promoting and developing the industry. VisitScotland – as the national tourism organisation, VisitScotland is responsible for promoting Scotland as a tourism destination to other parts of the UK and internationally. In terms of golf tourism promotion, the organisation has a golf product manager responsible for the domestic UK market. International marketing is segmented by geography and behaviour and so golf is promoted alongside other products (albeit golf plays an important part in their international marketing campaigns). VisitScotland is currently leading the Drive it Home promotion as part of the Homecoming 2009 programme encouraging more international golfers to visit Scotland. EventScotland – set up in 2002 as the national events agency, EventScotland is involved in promoting a number of major golf events taking place in Scotland. These include the Open Championships, held this year at Turnberry, and the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. The organisation also promotes some of the smaller events which in 2009 will include the Scottish Challenge at the Macdonald Spey Valley Highland Resort and the Cleveland Golf / Srixon Scottish Seniors Open at the Fairmont St Andrews. Scottish Enterprise – SE supports business development in key tourism markets that include golf. The focus of this support is on improving visitor facilities and levels of customer service at golf tourism businesses, thereby increasing the volume and value of visitors to Scotland. In recent years, SE has been involved in the following: Supporting the development of GTS, funding Regional Golf Development Officers and participating in the Golf Development Framework

•

•

•

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Training and skills development – including facilitating the creation of the Scottish Region of the Club Managers Association of Europe (CMAE) and supporting the 100k Welcomes customer service training programme Tourism e-business workshops, innovation workshops and general SE leadership programmes for tourism businesses Sponsorships for events including the Open Championships, Scottish Seniors Contributing to market intelligence: Golf Tourism Monitor, Tourism Intelligence Scotland. • Scottish Golf Union – the SGU is the governing body for amateur golf in Scotland and has responsibility for four main areas: growing the game, developing talent, supporting the clubs and building partnerships. Although the SGU is not so involved in promoting golf tourism, they do promote access to Scotland’s golf courses through a marketing portal, Golf Central, and the Scottish Golf Card which encourages registered golfers to visit and play other courses.

Coordination
National level 5.3 The golf tourism industry has traditionally been quite fragmented at the national level and this was reflected in consultations with stakeholders. The main concern was a perceived lack of leadership amongst the various organisations highlighted above. Others stated that up until the relationship between the industry and the public sector agencies has not been close enough. However, there were also some consultees that believed the various organisations were working well together and doing as much as possible within their budgets. According to them, the challenge was more in terms of encouraging golf tourism businesses to become more engaged in joint marketing and development activities (many thought this would be more likely because of the current economic conditions). The issues of coordination and collaboration within the golf industry more generally are now being addressed through the development of the Golf Framework Group, led by the SGU. A strategy document is expected to be published in summer 2009. The emerging Framework aims to: • • • develop a coordinated approach to maximise the potential of golf in Scotland as a major and sustainable contributor to the Scottish economy align existing initiatives and identify new innovative approaches which further develop the potential of golf in Scotland coordinate investment in golf development, demonstrate value for money, and a tangible return on public investment

5.4

5.5

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•

ensure that Scotland’s golf events remain world-class, and that Scotland delivers the best ever Ryder Cup in 2014.32

5.6

Within this Framework, the Golf Planning Group will bring together the organisations with responsibility for promoting golf tourism. Although consultees were hopeful that this initiative will improve coordination between the various organisations some were perhaps slightly more sceptical and stated that it would be a significant step forward but only if partners “do what they have agreed to do”. Regional / local level

5.7

At the regional level there are many good examples of collaboration in Angus, Ayrshire, East Lothian and Fife. These are listed below in Table 5-1.
Table 5-1: Golf Development Groups
Region Angus Ayrshire Golf Development Group Carnoustie Country Golf Tourism Ayrshire West Coast Links Association East Lothian Fife Golf East Lothian First in Fife Links with History St Andrews Golf Development Group

5.8

Many of these golf development groups were set up around five or six years ago in most parts of Scotland with public sector support (from SE and ERDF). There are also more informal networks of golf tourism businesses in the Highlands and the Scottish Borders. The groups that have been successful are those that are being driven by the private sector (golf courses, local hotels etc) and perhaps not surprisingly in those areas that have at least one of the signature courses to act as a focal point for their promotion of golf tourism. These groups undertake joint marketing and work alongside VisitScotland (and also sometimes independently) in key markets such as North America, Scandinavia and Germany. They also offer visitor passes for local courses and some have websites that offer visitors a ‘one-stopshop’ for organising their golf and accommodation, including golf packages (e.g. First in Fife). The most noticeable absence from Table 5-1 is a North East group, although attempts have been made over recent years to organise such a group. Many consultees highlighted the potential of the North East as a golf tourism destination in its own right because of the quality of the product with courses such as Royal Aberdeen, Murcar Links and Cruden Bay. At least two other higher profile golf facilities are being planned (the Trump development and the Blairs Estate development) and these will only add to the profile of the area.

5.9

5.10

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Scottish Golf Union (2009), The Future of Scottish Golf – A Vision and Framework for Success (Draft Report) 44

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5.11

Some also mentioned the possibility of creating a similar golf tourism destination in the Highlands with the new Castle Stuart development near Inverness adding to the existing top quality courses at Nairn and Royal Dornoch. The challenge for both the North East and Highland areas in attracting overseas golfers is their peripheral geographic location and limited availability of direct air links. In addition to golf businesses working together in terms of promotion, it was also suggested that golf courses could be more innovative in how they operate – for example perhaps sharing equipment costs or greenkeepers.

5.12

Marketing
National level 5.13 Marketing of Scotland as a golf tourism destination is led by VisitScotland. Marketing activity is split between the ‘domestic’ UK and Ireland market and international markets. There is one dedicated UK and Ireland golf product manager who is responsible for targeting campaigns and newsletters to the database of golf contacts (i.e. those who have registered on the website and/or requested the Official Guide to Golf publication). There are various staff involved in international golf marketing (for these markets, activity is based on geography rather than product) and others also tasked with promoting the 2014 Ryder Cup. Overall there are around five staff with responsibility for golf promotion within the organisation and around £1 million is spent on golf marketing each year.
International marketing

5.14

VisitScotland delivers regular consumer campaigns with golf often featured as a key product – for example recent campaigns in the US and Sweden. The international team also work with tour operators in emerging markets e.g. Kuwait (for Middle East marketing) and China. VisitScotland has started to work with the European PGA Tour to target certain events in the run up to the 2014 Ryder Cup. They are currently promoting Scotland at various events/tournaments, based in the following target markets: • • • • • Volvo China Open – Beijing, China BMW International Open - Munich, Germany SAS Masters - Malmo, Sweden Mercedes Benz Championship - Cologne, Germany Dessert Classic – Dubai

5.15

5.16

VisitScotland also undertakes a lot of international marketing that is less visible yet potentially very important. For example, the Ambassadors Programme involves PGA Magazine identifying US golf professionals who are more likely to travel overseas and who are based close to direct access routes to Scotland. The idea is that these professionals then spread the message amongst travel operators and work as ambassadors for Scotland. Another

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example of this type of approach was VisitScotland’s work with the Georgian Golf Association following the launch of the Delta Airlines link between Atlanta and Glasgow in 2007. This involved targeting members of the association’s database with e-communication. Consultation feedback on national marketing 5.17 Most of the consultees agreed that the national marketing of golf tourism in Scotland could be better. It was stated that the industry has had too little influence on the golf marketing activities undertaken by VisitScotland. As stated earlier, it is hoped that this issue can be addressed through the Golf Planning Group meetings which provides an opportunity for the industry to contribute to VisitScotland’s marketing strategy. Much of VisitScotland’s promotional activity is informed by market research which presents a good overview of how Scotland is perceived as a golf destination (a summary of this was included in the previous section). There were differing views on how VisitScotland’s support for golf tourism should be structured. Several consultees believed that a specific ‘golf team’ would provide a clearer focus to their activities. Others stated that the golf tourism promotion should be led by golf specialists rather than marketing specialists – one consultee believed that this was actually the reason for setting up GTS. Another felt that the change in VisitScotland’s structure (becoming more centralised) has had a detrimental impact on regional support for golf. The consultations seemed to suggest that some of the criticism from the industry about the marketing at a national level is based on a lack of understanding about what is being done and how effective it has been. This would appear consistent with descriptions of more ‘subtle’ approaches to international marketing. With these types of marketing campaigns, it is possible that the industry either is not made aware of the benefits of these campaigns or is not aware of the activity in the first place. Some stakeholders questioned why Scotland has not had the same profile as other golf destinations at trade shows, on television or in golf magazines. It would be helpful to know how effective the golf marketing that is being done is working in order to demonstrate to the industry whether and how well the strategy is working. It was also agreed amongst most consultees that there could be more done to promote the second tier of Scotland’s golf courses, many of which would probably be championship courses if they were in other countries. This would benefit not only the courses and their surrounding areas but would also offer the visiting golfer a cheaper alternative to St Andrews or Gleneagles but similar quality of course. Regional level 5.21 Many of the regional Golf Development Groups work alongside VisitScotland in promoting Scotland at golf events or trade shows. They also often do their own marketing, targeting specific markets that are particularly important to their area. For example, Carnoustie Country has recently done marketing in Canada (attending the Toronto golf show) and Ireland following Padraig Harrington’s Open victory in 2007. Similarly Golf East Lothian has been developing links in Sweden to exploit the new Ryanair flights into Edinburgh.

5.18

5.19

5.20

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5.22

There are also examples of the Golf Development Groups working closely with other local visitor attractions in order to promote golf alongside other activities. The aim here is to encourage more visitors to bring partners and families with them on their golf trip. The consultations highlighted examples of this collaboration between Golf Development Groups and Key Attractions Groups already taking place in East Lothian and Angus (Carnoustie Country). There were mixed views on the balance that is required between national and regional marketing. Some consultees suggested that international marketing should continue to focus on the Scottish ‘home of golf’ brand and should avoid potentially confusing international golfers or duplicating effort by trying to also promote specific regions such as Ayrshire or East Lothian. On the other hand some stated that since the golf visitor is now more likely to stay in one particular part of the country, promoting regional destinations would be a way to encourage repeat visits. A consistent and complementary approach to national and regional marketing should be ensured by the partnership work of the Golf Planning Group.

5.23

Product development
Use of ICT and online booking systems 5.24 As has been highlighted in earlier sections the reluctance by many clubs and golf facilities to use ICT for managing bookings has limited the amount of market intelligence. In recent years, online booking has become an important tool for organising all types of holidays, not only golf trips. However, the consultations confirmed that there is still significant reluctance amongst golf clubs to introduce this system of booking. For many of the smaller private clubs across Scotland, their priority has always been their local members. It was suggested that their reluctance to introduce online booking is due to concerns over managing who is playing their course and the impact that this will have on members. The SGU’s website has a searchable database, Golf Central, of all golf courses in Scotland – however only 25 of the golf courses featured currently have an online booking system. A similar number of courses are available through an online booking company, Teedeal. The issue here is not simply about providing easier booking, but the internet is now at the heart of the collection and analysis of data that can be used for promotion. This was highlighted in a recent golf tourism seminar organised by Scottish Enterprise33 where Bob Morris, from the US golf club operator Billy Casper Golf, demonstrated the benefits of being able to understand and segment the market through developing detailed customer databases. The event specifically highlighted the opportunities for Scotland in promoting to and developing packages for different types of US golfers (targeting not just the older ‘committed’ golfer which has traditionally been the case but also those more social golfers or those looking for good deals).34 ICT is a crucial tool in understanding the market and therefore refining products, services and keeping in touch with customers. In the past, with strong membership bases this was less
33 34

5.25

5.26

5.27

5.28

Scottish Enterprise Golf Tourism Business Insight Event held in St Andrews, April 2009 Other golfer categories and their characteristics are highlighted in Table 4-8 47

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important for golf clubs, but now with greater competition and weakening local demand responding to customers will be a higher priority for some courses. Skills development and customer service 5.29 There are a range of initiatives that have been introduced to improve the quality of experience for visiting golfers. SE provides a package of support to tourism businesses in terms of ebusiness, innovation and skills and training. In order to address the issue of customer service in the golf tourism industry, VisitScotland introduced a quality assurance scheme, Visiting Golfers Welcome, to try to ensure that accommodation providers provide the necessary facilities and customer service for visiting golfers. In order to meet the criteria, accommodation providers need to ensure that they can provide, amongst other things, lockable storage for golf clubs, facilities for drying clothes and footwear, information on weather forecasts, local transport, golf shops and tee-off times. Accommodation employees also need to ‘display a positive attitude towards golfers and a genuine desire to meet and anticipate their needs’35. What has been described as patchy customer service is an issue across Scotland’s hospitality industry and not just in relation to golf tourism businesses. Some suggested that the increasing number of chain hotels and resorts involved in golf tourism are more likely to invest in staff training. However, many consultees highlighted that more could be done to demonstrate to golf tourism businesses the importance of good customer service. Adding value to the product 5.32 Even in the current climate, most consultees were not in favour of discounting the product to attract more visitors. There was a feeling that this would de-value golf in Scotland. However, there was agreement that there could be more packages or cross-selling of golf and other activities, thereby maximising the value of tourists once they have come to Scotland. Although the nature of the sector in Scotland makes it harder to offer joined up packages that characterise the product in the US, Spain and elsewhere, a variety of ways to add value to the product were suggested. This could be as simple as offering visitors a complementary lunch in the clubhouse after their round, or tying in golf with another tourist attraction nearby. We are aware from our consultations that some of the Golf Development Groups are already working closely with key attractions groups to develop these links. It was also suggested that there could be more innovative events packages where visitors are either encouraged to stay for more than one event (for example, encouraging visitors to stay for the Scottish Open and then the Open when staged in Scotland) or when purchasing the event ticket they are provided with an opportunity to play a local course. With both of these examples the aim would be to encourage visitors to stay longer.

5.30

5.31

5.33

5.34

Implications for future development
5.35 The main challenges for developing golf tourism identified through the consultations are:
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Golfers Welcome brochure – www.visitscotland.org 48

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•

The importance of information in understanding the market. In an increasingly competitive market, information about customers is critical and the ICT and the internet are crucial in gathering, analysing and using information on customers. Online booking is not simply about organising tee-times more effectively, it is a powerful business and marketing tool that gives courses the information they need to stay in touch with customers. It can be the basis for refining and develop products and services. Improving use of ICT is becoming critical in attracting visitors beyond the traditional championship courses. Strengthening the monitoring of the golf market. There are conflicting sources of information about the golf market. The approach adopted by GTS based on collecting data on green fees is sound, but could be developed further: There is a need for a new golf visitor survey which focuses on capturing a representative sample of golf visitors to Scotland and can act as a robust source of data for visitor expenditure. Courses should be assisted to capture more data on where visitors come from. This relates to developing stronger ICT systems for the reasons given above. Without this, distinguishing between visitors who are staying and those on day trips is very difficult for the clubs Finally, the growth in the number of top end courses which rely on overseas membership, means that simply relying on green fee payments will not capture all golf tourists. Research into the number of overseas members and the frequency with which they visit would helpfully supplement our understanding of the size of the market.

•

•

Closer collaboration continues to be needed between industry and VisitScotland in terms of developing marketing strategies and better informing of golf businesses about the marketing that is being delivered (e.g. VisitScotland’s PGA ambassador programme which is perhaps less visible). Although this is happening more could be done to demonstrate the effectiveness of investment More promotion of Scotland’s second tier of golf courses which are still of high quality but slightly cheaper to play and often more accessible for visitors. Many of these courses are part of VisitScotland’s current Drive it Home campaign. Getting visitors to these courses may require stronger financial incentives for independent visitors and operators, better information and marketing. Identifying and working with a subset of those that have the potential to attract visitors in their own right would be more effective than spreading support more thinly. Additional public sector support for regional golf groups in the North East and Highlands. New resort developments will be opening soon in both regions and this will enhance the existing high quality product. This could be done by SE directly or though additional resources to Golf Tourism Scotland. The success of other groups reported in the consultations indicates that this is worthwhile

•

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Encouraging accommodation providers to become more engaged in local golf groups and more actively promote golf in any marketing material (along with the other main activities or attractions).

Role for Scottish Enterprise 5.36 The rationale for SE intervention is based on the economic concept of “market failure”. This means that support should be made only where markets will not deliver an efficient outcome. In this case, the provision of golf courses generates economic benefits for other tourism service businesses for which the courses themselves are not compensated. As a result, they will under-invest in attracting visitors. To address this, the beneficiaries (hotels, restaurants, bars, retailers and many others) should work together to support the attraction of visitors. In the absence of public sector intervention this tends not to happen. SE support should therefore address this failure by focusing on the courses and activities that generate additional visitors to Scotland, or encourage residents to make trips in Scotland rather than travel overseas. This means focusing on supporting the staying tourism market rather than the day visitor market (the likelihood is that many courses would market to local golfing visitors anyway). Based on the available research, golf tourism generates significant economic benefits for the Scottish economy and this is the rationale for SE’s involvement in supporting the industry. However, this study highlights that there are in fact only around 70 golf courses that are generating the majority (75%) of the economic benefits for Scotland. It is these courses that should be targeted for future SE support both in terms of individual assistance and ensuring that businesses located nearby are fully engaged in promoting golf tourism. A number of specific recommendations for SE are highlighted in the concluding section of the report.

5.37

5.38

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6: Conclusions and recommendations

6.1

Over the past ten years the golf industry has been relatively stable, with clubs and courses supported by a steady demand for membership and growing tourism. New course development has been seen as a profitable investment for developers and as a result the number of courses has grown. The recession is likely to have a significant effect on clubs and courses as income from membership and from tourists becomes harder to attract. Indeed, there has been speculation that a number of courses and clubs in Scotland may not survive36. This makes 2009 and 2010 extremely important years for golf tourism, but it is also a major opportunity for the industry to focus on developing products and services that will help position Scotland as the economy recovers. While supply of golf facilities has grown faster than domestic participation, for tourists the range and quality of courses is better than ever. The history and traditions of the game in Scotland will continue to be a draw for golfers from all over the world. Looking further ahead, beyond the recession, the growing popularity of the game in emerging countries represents an opportunity to expand the market – not in competition with the exciting new courses that are being built in areas with a warmer climate, but as an alternative. Our brief has been to focus specifically on the role that SE can play and this relates to activities that will best generate economic benefit through the support of golf-related businesses. This “supply-side” activity can impact on the number of visitors to Scotland and their expenditure by improving services and products, but strong marketing will remain the key driver. The logic of this report is that golf tourism generates a significant income for Scotland. This income is important not just for the golf courses themselves but for a range of other tourism services. These “externalities” and the fragmented nature of the sector provide a rationale for SE’s intervention. We argue that improving information (specifically more use of ICT), a stronger focus on working with the courses that generate “spillover” benefits, closer collaboration and encouragement for greater innovation will all help to maximise the income that can be generated through golf tourism. However, the success of these activities will also depend on the scale and effectiveness of marketing and in this respect communication between VisitScotland and the golf industry is critical. The new Framework Group should provide a forum for the golf industry to input into the development of marketing activities and for VisitScotland to outline what is being done, how effective it is and the opportunities for golf-related businesses.

6.2

6.3

6.4

Value of golf tourism to Scotland
6.5 It is estimated that golf tourism currently generates around £220 million for the Scottish economy (Table 6-1). This output represents GVA of £120 million and supports 4,400 jobs.
20% of Scots golf clubs 'in financial difficulty' - Sunday Herald article, http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2403680.0.20_of_scots_golf_clubs_in_financial_diffi culty.php 51
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6.6

The economic impact of golf tourism consists of the expenditure made by staying visitors playing golf in Scotland, and includes Scots staying overnight. This amounts to around £191 million in economic impact. In addition, an annual average figure of around £36 million is generated through the expenditure of event spectators, with the Open Championships bringing in the most visitor expenditure. In our calculations we have made adjustments to avoid double-counting expenditure of event spectators who also come to Scotland to play golf.
Table 6-1: Economic impact of golf tourism
Total output (incl. multiplier) Visiting golfers Golf event spectators (Overlap in visitor spend) Total economic impact Source: SQW Consulting (figures do not add due to rounding to nearest million) £191 million £36 million (£3 million) £223 million GVA £113 million £12 million (£2 million) £123 million

6.7

Aside from the visitor expenditure, there has also been significant private sector investment in creating new golf facilities and accommodation but also upgrading existing facilities across Scotland. Over the last two years nearly £250 million of investment has been committed to new projects, which in time will contribute to attracting golf visitors.

Product
6.8 Scotland is the ‘home of golf’ and is renowned for the quality of its golf courses. It has five of the nine Open Championship venues – St Andrews, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Royal Troon and Turnberry and will also be staging the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in 2014. Hosting major golf events reinforces the country profile and encourages UK and overseas golfers to visit. The supply of high quality courses is Scotland’s main asset and overall there are around 550 golf courses across the country. However, many of these courses are run by members’ clubs and up until now have had limited interest in attracting visitors. It is estimated that here are around 70 courses generating over £150,000 in visitor green fees and these courses are delivering the majority of golf tourism impact for Scotland. These courses are 12% of the total supply but are currently generating 75% of all overnight visitor green fees. These courses are the ones bringing the additional tourism benefits to Scotland and therefore should be the focus of public sector support. Following on from this study we would recommend SE to access this list of courses from GTS in order to target future support for golf tourism. The main areas for improvement identified by stakeholders in terms of the golf tourism product were the customer service in some golf tourism businesses and a general feeling of complacency that because Scotland is the home of golf then visitors will always want to come. Linked to this idea is another perceived weakness in terms of how golf clubs and facilities are promoting golf tourism and managing information on their markets. It is feared that a lack of effective ICT infrastructure will hinder Scotland’s ability to maintain and grow the market.

6.9

6.10

6.11

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6.12

The industry has traditionally been very fragmented. It is hoped that the new Golf Framework Group will encourage a closer relationship between the industry and the various agencies involved in golf development. In terms of golf tourism this needs to clearly set out how future marketing strategies will be developed and which organisations will be responsible for implementation. Many consultees stated that the current economic climate is likely to encourage a more proactive attitude from golf tourism businesses (because they have to) and there is the potential for Golf Development Groups to do more at the local level. This is particularly the case in the North East and Highland areas.

6.13

Demand
6.14 Although Scotland remains one of the world’s premier golf destinations, the recession has had a significant impact on the industry, with a notable decline in the number of US visitors. This coupled with the increased competition from other countries means that Scotland is likely to find it difficult to grow the golf tourism market over the coming years. As visitors look for good deals, the economic impact is likely to be driven by volume of visitors rather than increasing expenditure. In terms of marketing, most consultees believed that Scotland should be concentrating on its core markets in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Germany and most importantly North America. These are the markets with experienced golfers who really value the Scottish product and who will be getting ready to travel again once the economy recovers.

6.15

Areas for development and recommendations for SE
6.16 The challenges for Scottish golf tourism are well known. The issues are not around what needs to be done, but how it should be done, having the leadership and the confidence that the structure in place can deliver. SE’s role in supporting golf tourism relates mainly to the supply side, encouraging businesses to work together, offering strong products that will attract visitors and generate income and employment. Focussing on SE’s future role we set out five key areas for development. Leadership and marketing 6.17 Leadership and the structure of the agencies and golf representative groups was one of the most discussed challenges for the sector. There was a common view that a lack of leadership in the past has hindered the development of golf tourism. One view was that the public agencies, VisitScotland and SE had both shifted away from providing direct support for individual businesses and that this had left a gap. We have made no specific recommendations on leadership and structure as a new Golf Framework is being launched. This sets out the roles and responsibilities of each of the agencies. It would be a counterproductive to make suggestions on alternative models before this has launched, other than to say that it was needed.

6.18

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6.19

Marketing was also frequently raised by consultees. In this report our focus has been on SE’s role rather than VisitScotland’s and we have not made suggestions on the type and scale of marketing that should be done. It is worth highlighting that increasing the scale of marketing in key markets is likely to have the greatest influence on Scotland’s ability to attract more golf visitors thereby generating more economic impact. This would require significant additional public sector investment from VisitScotland which in the current economic climate is very unlikely to be forthcoming. However based on the current marketing activity, it was clear from the consultations that there could be more communication between VisitScotland and the golf tourism industry. Greater transparency and more awareness of what is being done to market golf would be welcomed by our consultees along with estimates of the returns that it is generating. Support the industry and focusing on market failure

6.20

6.21

SE’s role is based on addressing market failure. This means that any intervention or activities that it supports should help the market operate more effectively. We have argued that the value of golf tourism is substantial and that, following the recession, there will be opportunities to increase the income and employment supported in Scotland. However the sector will do better if it works together, encourages innovation, improves customer service and gathers better information on its markets. However, the clubs, courses and other tourism businesses that provide services for the sector will not achieve this independently. There will be too little investment because the full benefits of attracting golf tourists tend to “spillover” across many businesses and as a result are not fully captured by those making the investment. A lack of information may also hinder investment in the most effective areas. The emphasis must be on the golf tourism that generates the greatest “spillover” benefits. This means focussing on the clubs and courses that attract visitors from outside Scotland rather than helping attract Scottish residents who would have played somewhere else anyway. This would not add much additional economic benefit. Recommendation 1 The focus must be on working with a smaller number of the courses that have the greatest potential, and willingness, to attract visitors. SE should select a relatively small number that have the potential and the willingness to develop their tourism role. It is estimated that just 70 courses generate 75% of the tourism benefits. Increase information gathering

6.22

6.23

6.24

Information is crucial for marketing, monitoring and developing the golf tourism product, yet few clubs and courses know who their markets are, where they come from, how often etc.. In the past membership income has been stable and so visitors have been less important to many clubs, but this is changing. There are several aspects to this and they meet different needs:

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•

Collecting data on volume and value – this is needed to demonstrate trends in the number of visitors and the contribution that golf makes to the economy. The method developed by GTS and used in this report is the basis for robust approach but needs to strengthen the estimates of the proportion of rounds played by those staying overnight versus day visitors. Getting more accurate information from the courses and clubs requires that they capture this themselves. This might be helped by developing simple tools and promoting them among GTS members and through SGU To date there has been no estimate of the volume and value of overseas members. This should be included in future work. There are probably relatively few clubs with significant numbers. These could be identified and contacted to assess the number of visits they generate and to estimate additional expenditure Collecting profile data – we recommend that a golf visitor survey is carried out over the next 12 months. This should ensure that a robust method is adopted to identify visitor origins in particular. Profile information is important in developing marketing and product development approaches. Although we know about what golfers like and reasons for their visit, we do not know how many come from each market, which are growing and which are contracting.

•

•

Recommendation 2 SE should promote the use of customer databases to golf clubs and facilities either individually or within Golf Development Groups. These could be the basis of valuable tools for marketing and for developing and testing demand for products. ICT development 6.25 Although most people assume that this relates to booking on-line tee-times, in fact ICT systems can also manage customer databases, used to develop offers and marketing and provide information to potential visitors around the world. Visitors increasingly expect to be able to research, book and manage trips on-line. The reasons for not making these investments will vary. In some cases, despite the benefits, courses or clubs do not feel that they attract sufficient visitors to make it worthwhile. In other cases they may feel that it is unnecessary, too complicated or they may not accurately estimate the benefit that it could bring. The starting point would be to use some example case studies to assess the value of the benefits among those courses/clubs that have made the investment. There is also likely to be some learning in which packages work best and how they can be used. There are no doubt a range of options and prices which could usefully be investigated. Recommendation 3 SE should support the demonstration of the value of ICT to the clubs/courses that attract, or have the potential to attract, most visitors. Case studies could be developed and disseminated through GTS and SGU.
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6.26

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Innovation and collaboration 6.28 In a competitive environment (both domestically and in attract visitors) innovation is important for the Scottish market. While membership fees were stable there was less need for innovation, but there are now more and more examples of new ideas and packages being developed. For example, golf with whisky, genealogy, island hopping, different types of membership, themed itineraries etc. The fragmented nature of Scotland’s golf product means that collaboration between operators in the golf sector is critical. The existing golf groups provide a basis for developing joint activities. We suggest that developing a group in the North East would be helpful given the cluster of strong courses. SE should help set up and facilitate the group. Recommendation 4 SE should focus on encouraging ideas which target new visitors from outside Scotland rather than boosting club memberships. This can be done by promoting SE’s range of Tourism Innovation activities rather than developing new schemes. SE should make sure these are promoted and that golf businesses are well represented in workshops and the awarding of any funding. Customer service 6.30 This was identified almost unanimously by consultees and is a common theme across tourism in general. VisitScotland and SE deliver a number of activities to support customer service through training quality assurance including the Visiting Golfers Welcome initiative. Spreading good practice and taking businesses on learning journeys can make a difference. Recommendation 5 SE should focus on the services used by golf visitors around the key courses and encouraging participation by these businesses in these schemes.

6.29

Conclusion
6.31 Golf makes a major contribution to the Scottish economy through attracting tourists to play and to attend events. Golf tourists spend significantly more than other leisure tourists (using UKTS figures, golf visitors spend 50% more per night). This means that not only is there an opportunity to make significant improvements, increases in the number of visitors can generate proportionately greater impacts. Despite anecdotal evidence that visitor numbers have fallen in recent years, there are opportunities to generate greater economic benefit in the future as the economy comes out of recession. There are challenges, the fragmented supply chain means that collaboration is of particular importance, investment in improving information and ICT is needed to refine our understanding of the market, to refine products and target marketing. Like other parts of the tourism industry, customer service could be improved and new ideas encouraged.

6.32

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6.33

These challenges for golf tourism have been recognised for some time and a number of interventions are in place to provide the support to golf courses, clubs, facilities and service providers. What is important for SE is that the support should focus on the courses that have the potential to generate the greatest tourism expenditure benefits, rather than all courses, and that more is done to demonstrate the potential benefits of making these investments. With falling membership numbers and income, more clubs will have to consider generating revenue from visitors. Increasingly clubs and courses are being run by more commercially minded managers with greater interest in using new methods to generate business. Both these effects should help to address the challenges that have been set out.

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Annex A: Consultees
A.1 We are grateful to the following stakeholders who contributed to our research.
Table A-1 : Consultee list
Consultee Malcolm Roughead Mark McCardie Jacqui Soutar Melanie Angus Robbie Clyde Nick Hunter Allan Minto Mike Woodcock Mike Williamson Ewen Watt David Roy Andy Salmon Ian Bunch Ian McCaig Derek Mortimer Stewart Spence Sheila Faichney Colin McLeod John Duncan Craig Innes Gary Slatter Roger McStravick Ronnie Pook Peter Craigan Dawn Tinker Eric Grandison Organisation VisitScotland VisitScotland VisitScotland VisitScotland EventScotland Golf Tourism Scotland Golf East Lothian St Andrews Golf Development Group First in Fife Golf Group / MW Associates First in Fife Golf Group Links with History Golf Group Scottish Golf Union Prestwick Golf Club / Golf Tourism Ayrshire Golf Tourism Scotland Murcar Golf Club Marcliffe Hotel, Aberdeen Angus Council / Carnoustie Country Carnoustie Golf Links Royal Dornoch Golf Club Ratho Golf Club Fairmont St Andrews Fairmont St Andrews Scotland Golf Tours / Scottish Incoming Golf Tour Operators Morton Golf Holidays Golf Desk Scotland Scottish-GolfTours.com / Craigielaw Golf School

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Annex B: Scotland’s golf courses
Table B-1 : Full listing of Scotland’s golf courses
Name of course Highlands and Islands Abernethy Aigas Alness Askernish Asta Ballachulish House Barra Benbecula Boat of Garten Bonar Bridge,Ardgay Brora Carnegie Carrbridge Cawdor Castle Craggan Durness Fort Augustus Fort William Fortrose & Rosemarkie Gairloch Golspie Grantown-on-Spey Harris Helmsdale Invergordon Inverness Isle of Skye Kingussie Kirkwall Loch Ness New Loch Ness Old Loch Ness Wee Monster Lochcarron Ballater Inland Inland Links Inland Parkland Links Links Inland Heathland Links Private Inland Inland Inland Links Inland Inland Links Links Links Inland Links Inland Inland Inland Links Inland Parkland Inland Inland Inland Parkland Inland Heathland 9 18 9 9 9 9 9 18 9 18 18 9 9 18 9 9 18 18 9 18 18 9 9 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 9 9 9 18 Lybster Muir of Ord Nairn Nairn Dunbar Newtonmore Reay Royal Dornoch, Championship Royal Dornoch, Struie Sanday Shetland Skeabost South Ronaldsay Spean Bridge Spey Valley Stornoway Strathpeffer Spa Stromness Tain Tarbat Thurso Torvean Traigh Ullapool Westray Whalsay Wick North East Aboyne Aboyne Loch Alford Aspire Auchenblae Auchmill Kintore Parkland Parkland Parkland Parkland Parkland Heathland Parkland 18 9 18 9 9 18 18 Inland Links Links Inland Links Links Links Links Parkland Woodland Parkland Parkland Inland Parkland Inland Links Links Links Parkland Inland Links Coastal Links Links Links Inland 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 9 9 9 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 9 18 9 18 18 9 Type of course No. of holes Name of course Type of course No. of holes

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Name of course Ballindalloch Castle Balnagask Banchory Braemar Buckpool Cove Sea Craibstone Cruden Bay Cruden Bay, St Olafs Cullen Deeside Deeside, Blairs Duff House Royal Dufftown Dunecht House East Aberdeenshire Elgin Forres Fraserburgh, Corbie Fraserburgh, Rosehill Fyvie Garmouth & Kingston Hazlehead 9 Hole Hazlehead No.1 Hazlehead No.2 Hopeman Huntly Inchmarlo Inchmarlo Lairds Insch Inverallochy Inverurie Keith Kemnay King's Links Kinloss Country Kinloss Country 1 Bishopshire

Type of course Parkland Links Parkland Heathland Links Links Parkland Links Links Links Parkland Parkland Parkland Moorland Parkland Parkland Parkland Parkland Links Parkland Parkland Links Parkland Parkland Parkland Links Parkland Parkland Parkland Parkland Links Parkland Parkland Parkland Links Parkland Parkland Heathland

No. of holes 18 18 18 18 18 12 18 18 9 18 18 9 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 9 9 18 9 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 10

Name of course Longside Lumphanan McDonald Meldrum House Moray New Moray Old Murcar (9 hole) Murcar Links Newburgh on Ythan Newmachar, Hawkshill Newmachar, Swailend Oldmeldrum Peterculter Peterhead New Peterhead Old Portlethen Rosehearty Rothes Royal Aberdeen Royal Tarlair Spey Bay Stonehaven Strathlene Buckie Tarland Torphins Turriff Westhill Historic Heartlands Aberdour Aberfeldy Alyth Anstruther Arbroath Auchterarder Auchterderran Balbirnie Park Ballumbie Castle Fairmont Torrance

Type of course Parkland Heathland Parkland Private Links Links Links Links Links Heathland Parkland Parkland Parkland Links Links Parkland Links Parkland Links Parkland Links Parkland Links Parkland Heathland Parkland Parkland

No. of holes 18 9 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 9 9 18 18 18 18 18 9 9 18 18

Parkland Parkland Heathland Links Links Parkland Inland Inland Inland Links

18 18 18 9 18 18 9 18 18 18

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Name of course Blair Atholl Blairgowrie, Lansdowne Blairgowrie, Rosemount Blairgowrie, Wee Brechin Burntisland Caird Park Camperdown Carnoustie, Buddon Links Carnoustie, Burnside Carnoustie, Championship Charleton Cluny Clays Comrie Cowdenbeath, Dora Craigie Hill Crail, Balcomie Crail, Craighead Crieff, Dornock Crieff, Ferntower Culcrieff Cupar Dalmunzie Downfield Drumoig Dunfermline, Canmore Dunfermline, Pitfirrane Dunfermline, Pitreavie Dunkeld & Birnam Dunnikier Park Dunning Edzell Edzell West Water Elie Elie Sports Club Elmwood Fairmont Devlin

Type of course Parkland Heathland Heathland Heathland Inland Inland Inland Inland Links Links Links Inland Inland Heathland Parkland Inland Links Links Parkland Parkland Parkland Inland Parkland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Heathland Inland Parkland Inland Inland Links Links Parkland Coastal

No. of holes 9 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 9 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 9 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 9 18 9 18 18

Name of course Falkland Forfar Forrester Park Foulford Inn Gleneagles, King's Gleneagles, Queen's Gleneagles, The PGA Centenary Gleneagles, Wee Glenisla Glenrothes Guthrie Kenmore Killin King James VI Kinghorn Kingsbarns Kinross Bruce Kinross Montgomery Kirkcaldy Kirriemuir Ladybank Leslie Letham Grange, Glens Letham Grange, Old Leven Links Lochgelly Lochore Meadows Lundin Lundin Ladies Milnathort Monifieth, Ashludie Monifieth, Medal Montrose, Broomfield Montrose, Medal Murrayshall Murrayshall, Lynedoch Muthill

Type of course Inland Inland Parkland Heathland Heathland Woodland Heathland Heathland Parkland Inland Heathland Parkland Parkland Parkland Links Links Parkland Parkland Inland Parkland Heathland Parkland Inland Inland Links Parkland Inland Links Inland Parkland Links Links Links Links Parkland Woodland Parkland

No. of holes 9 18 18 9 18 18 18 9 18 18 9 9 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 9 18 9 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 9

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Name of course Panmure Piperdam Pitlochry Saline Scoonie Scotscraig St Andrews Links, Balgove St Andrews Links, Eden St Andrews Links, Jubliee St Andrews Links, New St Andrews Links, Old St Andrews Links, Strathtyrum St Andrews, Duke's St Fillans St Michaels Strathmore, Leitfie Links Strathmore, Rannaleroch Strathtay Taymouth Castle Thornton Whitemoss Central Aberfoyle Airdrie Airthrey Alexandra Park Alloa Alva Balfron Balmore Barshaw Bearsden Bellshill Biggar Bishopbriggs Blairbeth Bonnybridge

Type of course Links Inland Heathland Inland Parkland Links Links Links Links Links Links Links Heathland Parkland Inland Parkland Inland Parkland Parkland Inland Parkland

No. of holes 18 18 18 9 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 9 18 9 18 18 18

Name of course Bonnyton Bothwell Castle Braehead Bridge of Allan Brucefields Buchanan Castle Calderbraes Caldwell Callander Cambuslang Campsie Cardross Carluke Carnwath Carrick (The) Cathcart Castle Cathkin Braes Cawder, Cawder Cawder, Keir Clober Clydebank and District Clydebank Municipal

Type of course Inland Inland Inland Inland Parkland Parkland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Parkland Inland Heathland Inland Inland Parkland Parkland Inland Inland Parkland Inland Parkland Inland Inland Inland Parkland Inland Inland Inland Parkland Inland Inland Parkland Inland Parkland

No. of holes 18 18 18 9 9 18 9 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 18 18

Inland Inland Parkland Inland Parkland Inland Inland Inland Inland Parkland Parkland Parkland Inland Inland Inland

18 18 9 9 18 9 18 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 9

Coatbridge Cochrane Castle Colville Park Cowglen Crow Wood Dalziel Park Dollar Douglas Park Douglas Water Drumpellier Dullatur, Antonine Dullatur, Carrickstone Dumbarton Dunblane new East Kilbride

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Name of course East Renfrewshire Easter Moffat Eastwood Elderslie Erskine Esporta Dougalston Falkirk Falkirk Tryst Fereneze Glasgow, Killermont Gleddoch Glenbervie Gourock Grangemouth Greenock Greenock, Whinhill Haggs Castle Hamilton Hayston Helensburgh Hilton Park, Allander Hilton Park, Hilton Hollandbush Kilmacolm Kilsyth Lennox Kirkhill Kirkintilloch Knightswood Lanark Langlands Larkhall Leadhills Lenzie Lethamhill Linn Park Littlehill Loch Lomond Lochwinnoch

Type of course Inland Inland Moorland Parkland Inland Parkland Inland Inland Parkland Parkland Parkland Inland Inland Inland Inland Moorland Inland Inland Inland Moorland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Private Inland Moorland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland

No. of holes 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 9 9 18 18 18 18 18 18

Name of course Milngavie Mount Ellen Mouse Valley Mouse Valley Kames Muckhart Old Ranfurly Paisley Palacerigg Pollok Polmont Port Glasgow Ralston Ranfurly Castle Renfrew Ross Priory Rouken Glen Sandyhills Shotts Stirling Strathaven Strathclyde Park Strathendrick Tillicoultry Torrance House Vale of Leven Westerwood Whitecraigs Williamwood Windyhill Wishaw South East Archerfield Baberton Bathgate Braid Hills No 1 Braid Hills, The Princes Broomieknowe Bruntsfield Links

Type of course Parkland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Inland Moorland Inland Inland Parkland Parkland Parkland Inland Inland Parkland Inland Inland Inland Parkland Inland Inland Inland Inland Parkland Inland Inland

No. of holes 18 18 18 9 27 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 18 9 9 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 18

Private Inland Parkland Heathland Heathland Parkland Parkland

18 18 18 9 18 18

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Name of course Cardrona Hotel (MacDonald) Carricknowe Castle Park Craigentinny Craigielaw Craigmillar Park Dalmahoy East Dalmahoy West Deer Park Duddingston Dunbar Dundas Park Duns Eyemouth Galashiels Gifford Glencorse Gogarburn Greenburn Gullane No 1 Gullane No 2 Gullane No 3 Haddington Harburn Haughburn Hawick Hirsel Innerleithen Jedburgh Kelso Kilspindie Kings Acre Kingsknowe Lauder Liberton Lilliardsedge Lilliesleaf Linlithgow

Type of course Woodland Inland Parkland Inland Links Inland Parkland Parkland Inland Inland Links Parkland Inland Links Parkland Inland Inland Parkland Parkland Links Links Links Parkland Inland Parkland Parkland Parkland Inland Parkland Parkland Links Inland Inland Moorland Inland Parkland Parkland Inland

No. of holes 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 18 9 18 12 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 9 18 9 18 18 18 9 18 9 9 18

Name of course

Type of course Links Inland Links Parkland Inland Inland Parkland Parkland Links Parkland Parkland Links Inland Inland Parkland Links Links Parkland Parkland Inland Parkland Inland Inland Parkland Parkland Parkland Inland Inland Parkland Moorland Parkland Inland Inland Inland Parkland Inland Inland Parkland

No. of holes 18 18 18 9 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 9 9 18 18 9 18 9 9 18 18 18 9 18 18 18 18 9 18 9 18 18 18 18 18 9

Longniddry Lothianburn Luffness New Melrose Melville Merchants of Edinburgh Minto Mortonhall Muirfield Murrayfield Musselburgh Musselburgh, Old Newbattle Newcastleton Niddry Castle North Berwick North Berwick, Glen Oatridge Peebles Polkemmet Portobello Prestonfield Pumpherston Ratho Park Ravelston Roxburghe Royal Burgess Royal Musselburgh Rutherford Castle Selkirk Silverknowes St Boswells Swanston Torphin Hill Torwoodlee Turnhouse Uphall Vogrie

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Name of course West Linton West Lothian Whitekirk Winterfield Woll South West Annanhill Ardeer Auchenharvie Ayr Golf Centre Ballochmyle Beith Belleisle Blairmore & Strone Brighouse Bay Brodick Brunston Castle Bute Cally Palace Hotel Caprington Carradale Castle Douglas Colonsay Colvend Corrie Cowal Craigieknowes Craignure Crichton Dalbeattie Dalmally Dalmilling Darley Doon Valley, Patna Dumfries & County Dumfries & Galloway Dunaverty Dundonald

Type of course Moorland Parkland Heathland Links Parkland

No. of holes 18 18 18 18 18

Name of course Fullarton Gatehouse-of-Fleet Gigha Girvan Glasgow Gailes Gretna

Type of course Links Parkland Inland Links Links Parkland Parkland Inland Parkland Links Links Parkland Coastal Inland Links Parkland Inland Heathland Heathland Parkland Parkland Parkland Inland Links Parkland Parkland Parkland Parkland Links Parkland Links Parkland Heathland Moorland Heathland Inland Inland Parkland

No. of holes 18 9 9 18 18 9 9 9 9 18 18 9 9 18 27 18 9 18 18 9 18 9 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 9 18 18 9 9 9 18

Parkland Inland Parkland Parkland Inland Inland Parkland Inland Links Links Inland Links Inland Inland Inland Parkland Links Parkland Inland Inland Parkland Links Parkland Parkland Inland Parkland Links Inland Inland Parkland Links Links

18 18 9 18 18 18 18 9 18 18 18 9 18 18 9 9 18 18 9 18 9 9 9 9 9 18 18 9 18 18 18 18

Hoddom Castle Innellan Inveraray Irvine, Bogside Irvine, Ravenspark Isle of Eriska Isle of Seil Kilbirnie Place Kilmarnock, Barassie Kirkcudbright Kyles of Bute Lagganmore Lamlash Langholm Largs Lochgilphead Lochgoilhead Lochgreen Lochmaben Lochranza Lockerbie Loudoun Machrie Machrie Bay Machrihanish Maybole Millport Moffat Muirkirk New Cumnock New Galloway Newton Stewart

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Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

Name of course North Gailes Oban (Glencruitten) Park of Tongland Pines Port Bannatyne Portpatrick Dunskey Powfoot Prestwick Prestwick, St Cuthbert Prestwick, St Nicholas Rothesay Routenburn Royal Troon, Old Royal Troon, Portland Sanquhar Seafield Shiskine Skelmorlie Solway Southerness St. Medan Stranraer Tarbert Taynuilt Thornhill Tobermory Turnberry, Ailsa Turnberry, Kintyre Vaul West Kilbride Western Gailes Whiting Bay Wigtown and Bladnoch Wigtownshire County

Type of course Parkland Inland Parkland Woodland Inland Heathland Links Links Inland Links Parkland Parkland Links Links Parkland Links Links Inland Links Links Coastal Coastal Inland Inland Heathland Inland Links Links Links Links Links Inland Parkland Links

No. of holes 9 18 9 18 13 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 9 18 12 18 18 18 9 18 9 9 18 9 18 18 9 18 18 18 9 18

Name of course

Type of course

No. of holes

Source: VisitScotland website – the Official Guide to Golf in Scotland (2009)

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Scottish Golf Tourism Market Analysis Report to Scottish Enterprise

Annex C: Golf Tourism Scotland research

C-1

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland

Project Managed by M W Associates on behalf of Golf Tourism Scotland

Golf Tourism Scotland

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland - Report ____________________________________________________________

____

Introduction

As part of the 2008 National Golf Tourism Monitor, Golf Tourism Scotland (GTS) was asked to estimate the value of golfing visitor spend in Scotland in Scotland.

The national figure for total golfing visitor spend in Scotland can only be an estimate, for two reasons: •

Visitor spend figures, whether collected by primary research among visitors or by extrapolation from courses’ green fee income figures, can only be best estimates.

•

Grossing up from figures from samples of visitors and/or courses to arrive at overall national figures is not an exact science, since no two courses are the same in terms of their visitor numbers or profile.

The information-gathering and analysis for this report was carried out by Mike Williamson of MW Associates, who acts as GTS’s project manager for the National Golf Tourism Monitor. The methodology is described in detail on the subsequent pages.

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Golf Tourism Scotland

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland - Report ____________________________________________________________

____

Approach
Step 1: Spreadsheet of all courses in Scotland A spreadsheet incorporating every golf course in Scotland was compiled, using the Official Guide to Golf in Scotland as our source, as it provides a very comprehensive and accurate listing. (Short par 3 courses were excluded because there are only a few in the Official Guide). Every course in Scotland was then categorised by golf tourism type, based on:
• • data gathered from courses participating in the 2008 Monitor; figures gathered from GTS’s email survey of all other courses in Scotland, and subsequently of clubs attending the Scottish Golf Union’s February 2009 seminars; • our own knowledge of the characteristics of the courses for which data was not available.

The golf tourism categories are: • Links/coastal annual visitor green fee revenue less than £75,000 annual visitor green fee revenue £75,000 to £150,000 annual visitor green fee revenue £150,000 to £300,000 annual visitor green fee revenue more than £300,000

•

Inland annual visitor green fee revenue less than £75,000 annual visitor green fee revenue £75,000 to £150,000 annual visitor green fee revenue £150,000 to £300,000 annual visitor green fee revenue more than £300,000

A separate category was also created for 9 hole courses (which did not participate in the 2008 Monitor, but which make up about a quarter of all courses in Scotland). The green fee revenue figures cover members’ guests as well as ‘full-paying’ visitors, and also include VAT, since the calculation is of visitor spend rather than the revenue that remains with the golf course. 2

Golf Tourism Scotland

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland - Report ____________________________________________________________

____

Approach cont’d

Where there were doubts about which of two categories particular courses should be placed in, ‘averaging’ was used, i.e. one course was placed in the lower of the two categories and the next similar course was placed in the higher category.

The categorisation produced the following breakdown of all courses in Scotland by golf tourism type. The table also shows the number of courses in each category for which actual annual visitor green fee revenue figures were obtained from:

-

the sources listed earlier personal contact with remaining major courses updating information held by MW Associates from previous surveys.

All the figures were provided on a confidential basis, and on the understanding that they would only be used as inputs to our calculations.

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Golf Tourism Scotland

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland - Report ____________________________________________________________

____

Approach cont’d

Course category
Links/coastal, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 Inland, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 9 hole courses

Number of courses in Scotland
30

Number for which actual figures available
17

% for which actual figures available
57

34

18

53

18

13

72

22

20

91

200

64

32

68

19

28

20

11

55

8

7

88

147

30

20

Total

547

199

36

Actual figures were obtained for high percentages of the major courses which make the most significant contribution to golf tourism in Scotland in terms of visitor spend, while the absolute numbers of courses providing figures in the largest groups of courses (inland courses with annual visitor green fee revenue of less than £75,000, and 9 hole courses) were sufficient to allow reasonable estimates to be made of the likely level of green fee revenue for those for which figures were not available. (These categories are also less significant in terms of estimating the overall value of golf tourism in Scotland since their visitor revenue is low and, as noted later, much of it comes from day trip visitors – including members’ guests whose overall trip spend is also low).

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Golf Tourism Scotland

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland - Report ____________________________________________________________

____

Approach cont’d
Step 2 The spreadsheet was then populated with figures or best estimates of annual visitor green fee revenue and visitor types from the various sources listed above. This gave the following results. Number of courses in Scotland
30

Course category
Links/coastal, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 Inland, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 9 hole courses

Average annual visitor green fee revenue
£36,892

Total annual visitor green fee revenue
£1,106,760

34

£111,327

£3,785,118

18

£205,188

£3,693,384

22

£912,666

£20,078,652

200

£34,565

£6,913,000

68

£103,351

£7,027,868

20

£195,596

£3,911,920

8

£604,985

£4,839,880

147

£21,476

£3,156,972

Total

547

£54,513,554

This gives average annual visitor green fee revenue of almost £100,000 per course in Scotland, but with a small number of courses – the 5% in the groups with over £300,000 of visitor revenue – accounting for almost 50% of the total.

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Golf Tourism Scotland

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland - Report ____________________________________________________________

____

Approach cont’d
Step 3
Since day trip visitors and staying visitors obviously have very different levels of total trip spend, the next step was to divide courses’ total green fee revenue into spend by day trip visitors and staying visitors respectively. This was done using the estimates (‘guesstimates’ in some cases) provided by a sample of courses in each category, supplemented by similar information gathered in previous MW Associates’ surveys. This gave the following results.
Total annual visitor green fee revenue
£1,106,760

Course category
Links/coastal, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 Inland, annual visitor green fee revenue £300,000 9 hole courses

Day trip: Staying Visitor split
53:47

Day trip, visitor green fee revenue
£586,583

Staying visitor green fee revenue
£520,177

£3,785,118

52:48

£1,968,262

£1,816,856

£3,693,384

50:50

£1,846,692

£1,846,692

£20,078,652

20:80

£4,015,730

£16,062,922

£6,913,000

85:15

£5,876,050

£1,036,950

£7,027,868

66:34

£4,638,393

£2,389,475

£3,911,920

62:38

£2,425,390

£1,486,530

£4,839,880

40:60*

£1,935,952

£2,903,928

£3,156,972

50:50

£1,578,486

£1,578,486

Total

£54,513,554

£24,871,538

£29,642,016

*Note: This ratio is an MW Associates’ estimate, as few returns were received in this category.

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Golf Tourism Scotland

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland - Report ____________________________________________________________

____

Approach cont’d

Over Scottish courses as a whole, it appears that day trip visitors and staying visitors account for roughly equal proportions of overall visitor green fee revenue. Step 4 The final step was to gross up these visitor green fee revenue figures to arrive at total visitor spend, i.e. including spend on travel, accommodation, etc. This has been done using a range of sources, i.e. surveys which have identified the ratio between visitors’ spend on green fees and their total trip spend. These surveys include VisitScotland’s 2006 and 2007 golfing visitor surveys carried out as part of the Monitor in those years, MW Associates’ 2005 survey of visiting golfers in St Andrews, MW Associates’ annual surveys of spend by golfpass visitors, and the SQW 2002 report. Staying visitors SQW’s 2002 report gives the following round figures for total golf tourism expenditure: Sector
Golf clubs and courses, green fees Golf clubs and courses, other Accommodation Transport Bars and restaurants Retail Total

Amount (£ million)
29.5 6.5 46 9.5 15.8 6 113.3

On this basis, visitors’ spend on green fees accounts for 26% of their total spend, i.e. for every £1 spent on green fees, visitors spend a further £3 on other things (The statement often quoted from the SQW 2002 report that ‘for every pound that is spent on green fees in Scotland a further five pounds is spent elsewhere in the Scottish economy’ takes account of the multiplier value of the original visitor spend).

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Golf Tourism Scotland

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland - Report ____________________________________________________________

____

Approach cont’d

A range of more recent sources confirm that staying visitors’ spend on green fees is about 25% of their total spend – and that this applies at all levels in the market.

The main source is the 2007 survey of golfing visitors carried out by Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS) for VisitScotland.

The breakdown of visitor spend in Scotland (i.e. excluding travel to and from Scotland) by origin of staying visitors is shown below.

Sector
Green fees Food and drink Travel in Scotland Accommodation Other Total

Scots £
196 160 52 247 251 906

Rest of UK USA £ £
235 130 50 259 325 999 749 357 170 774 1259 3309

Sweden £
375 200 70 463 733 1841

Other Europe £
211 190 70 393 677 1541

However, it is difficult to get accurate figures on visitor spend from surveys of this kind, and there are very high figures in the ‘Other’ category in the above table.

Figures given for total spend by respondents who could not give breakdowns were:

Scots £
Total 711

Rest of UK £
832

USA £
2,925

Sweden £
1495

Other Europe £
1254

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Golf Tourism Scotland

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland - Report ____________________________________________________________

____

Approach cont’d

‘Splitting the difference’ between these overall totals and the totals arrived at by summing the specific elements (including the very high ‘Other’ figures), and calculating the proportion of the totals accounted for by green fee spend gives the following results.

Spend
Green fees Assumed total Green fees as % of total

Scots £
196 800 25

Rest of UK £
235 900 26

USA Sweden £ £
749 3100 24 375 1600 23

Other Europe £
211 1350 16

With the exception of the figure for ‘Other European’ visitors, it is significant that green fees account for close to 25% of total spend for the different sectors of the market, irrespective of their origin and despite wide variations in overall levels of spend. For staying visitors interviewed in MW Associates’ survey of visiting golfers in St Andrews in 2005, very similar ratios were found, i.e.:

UK
Green fees as % of total 29

USA Europe Overall
22 25 24

Finally, MW Associates’ 2008 survey of users of the First in Fife Golfpass found that staying visitors spent, on average, £491 in total of which £113 (23%) was spent on green fees. It therefore seems safe to assume that green fees account for about 25% of total spend by golfing visitors staying at least one night in Scotland, and that this ratio applies equally to all sectors of the market.

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Golf Tourism Scotland

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland - Report ____________________________________________________________

____

Approach cont’d
Day trip visitors Green fees account for a much higher proportion of total spend in the case of day trip visitors.

SMS’s 2007 survey for VisitScotland found the following breakdown of spend by day trip visitors.

Sector
Green fees Food and drink Travel in Scotland Total

Spend £
64 29 15 108

As with staying visitors, some respondents could only give an overall total, the average for which was £93. Again, ‘splitting the difference’ and assuming an overall total of £100, green fees account for 64% of the total.

The ratio of green fees to total spend among day trip visitors covered by MW Associates’ 2005 St Andrews survey was 72%, while MW Associates’ survey of golfpass users found a ratio of 64%.

We therefore use a ratio of 67% for the purpose of our calculations in this report.

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Golf Tourism Scotland

Visiting Golfer Spend in Scotland - Report ____________________________________________________________

____

Approach cont’d

Conclusions The final step is to apply these ratios to the earlier estimates of green fee spend. This gives the following results.

Sector
Staying visitors Day trip visitors Total

Total green fee spend £ million
29.64 24.87 54.51

Green fee spend as % of total spend
25 67

Total visitor spend £ million
118.56 37.12 155.7

As a round figure, the calculations therefore suggest that the total spend by golfing visitors to Scotland is currently around £155 million, before taking account of any multiplier effects.

Of the total, almost 25% is spend by day trip visitors, the vast majority of whom will be Scots (other than in the case of some courses in the south of Scotland and Ayrshire who get some day trip visitors from the north of England and Northern Ireland respectively). This day trip spend is money re-circulating within the Scottish economy, rather than an injection of spend into the Scottish economy – or money which might otherwise have been spent outwith Scotland – as is the case with staying visitors.

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