Selling Scottish Golf
The Challenge

"I can think of no other country in the world where you can find so many golf courses of such high quality, variety and accessibility, all within such a comparatively small area."

Sam Torrance

There is rarely much gain in trying to sell the wrong product. The first precondition for increasing the number of golfers visiting Scotland is to develop a keener understanding of what they want, and of what they are likely to want in the future.

This should be our guide to developing and packaging Scottish golf. Our approach must be consumer-led. We must provide the quality of information customers need, available where and when they want it. We must put together the types of packages they want and sell these through the channels they prefer.

Recommendation by friends and family, and previous experience, are the two primary influences in the visitor's choice of golfing destination. Therefore, ensuring that the quality of the Scottish golf experience lives up to customers' highest expectations is essential if we are to win positive referrals and repeat visits.

The provision of appropriate tee times for visitor golfers lies at the very core of the golf tourism business. The number of Scottish courses has increased by more than 60 in the last decade and now exceeds 500. Yet, the number of club members has remained virtually static, which means that the capacity exists for more visitor rounds. The challenge is to match supply with demand.

That means assessing available capacity on both the famous and lesser-known courses, and offering the right mix of golfing opportunities in the propositions pitched to each market. Increasingly, clubs recognise the importance of visitors. Visitor green fees now generate an average 30 per cent of their revenue, although there are large regional differences. We therefore need to work with the courses that are eager to increase visitor rounds so as to develop a more flexible approach to provision, pricing and ticketing of tee times.

Finally, we must increase our marketing effort to ensure greater exposure for Scottish golf in the target markets.

Ensuring that the quality of the Scottish golf experience lives up to customers' highest expectations is essential if we are to win positive referrals and repeat visits.

Turnberry

Crieff Golf Club

A co-ordinated approach

Effective strategies are as much about pulling together as pushing forward. We know that opportunities exist to increase the number of golfers visiting all types of Scottish courses. To build that growth, and so generate the economic benefits that golf is capable of delivering, co-ordination at national level is vital.

Remember, competition for golf visitors is increasing: not just from Spain, Portugal and USA, but also from elsewhere in the UK and Ireland. A clear framework for both national and local activity, arrived at with the full engagement of the private sector, is therefore essential to prevent visitors being lost to competitors and to ensure that Scotland conveys the right products and the right messages. Several national agencies and many local groups have an interest in golf tourism. The trick is to make the best use of knowledge and resources by working effectively together behind a strategy that is focused on action and targeted on sustained growth.

Objectives are to:

>Increase golf tourism expenditure in Scotland.

>Increase the number of visitors (UK and overseas) taking golf breaks in Scotland.

>Increase the number of golfers playing the less well-known courses around the country.

>Increase the number of golfing visitors outside the main season.

>Ensure product development is in line with market needs.