Major wins drive golf tourism
The major successes of Rory McIlory, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell have created a surge of interest in golf tourism to Northern Ireland, according to golf travel business Carr Group. But chief executive Marty Carr tells Insider negative perceptions of bankers and professionals heading off to golfing hospitality events have left the corporate sector subdued.
"There's no question that having won six major championships in as many years it's given a great fillip to the demand for Irish golf," says Carr, adding the major hat-trick of Padraig Harrington to the successes of the Northern Irish trio.
"In particular, Northern Irish golf, up in Portrush and Royal County Down because of McIlory, McDowell and Darren Clarke returning to Portrush."
"The level of interest and bookings there are very strong," he adds.
Carr, points out that on top of the superstar players from the region, Portrush and Royal County Down are two of the top 12 courses in the world and there's also talk of the British Open going back to Portrush.
In the Republic, the recent staging of the Solheim Cup at Killeen Castle in Dublin provided ladies golf with a boost, Carr adds, before pointing out that last year there was a 10 per cent increase in golf numbers into Ireland.
After Rory McIlroy's historic US Open victory, Tourism Ireland rolled out a golf tourism campaign worth €2.2m (£1.8m) hoping to secure more revenue from the world's largest sports-related travel market.
But if tourist numbers are on the rise, the corporate golf sector is saddled with negative connotations, according to Carr, particularly in the banking sector with capitalism and corporate golf not making "very friendly bedfellows" at the moment.
"From a corporate perspective, and we would have been very big in the banking sector, the return in golf is not as prominent," says Carr.
"There's still a dirty association with bankers or professionals going on corporate junkets given everything that's going on at the moment."
Earlier this month, Dublin-headquartered Carr Golf Travel, founded by legendary Irish golfer and course designer Joe Carr, revealed it had invested €200,000 into www.onlinegolftravel.com, a site for golfers wanting to plan, price and book golf holidays directly online.
Carr says the venture, which includes support from Enterprise Ireland and Failte Ireland, was developed because of people gravitating towards the convenience of online booking.
