ALTHOUGH we live in the digital age, the Philippines has managed to remain off the chart in the world of golf tourism. Given the beauty and quality of the golf on offer here, it strikes many as odd that the country has done little to develop a potentially lucrative resource.
Golf tourism is a 250-billion-dollar industry worldwide. According to statistics shared with us by Peter Walton, chief executive of the International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO), there are roughly 70 million golfers in the world, and at least half of them have taken a golf vacation at some point in their lives, and 25 percent of said golfers plan golf vacations every year. Consider that the average golf tourist spends more per person than the average tourist at any given destination and you quickly realize that it would be foolish for the Philippines to continue to do nothing.
Through the initiative of the Association of Inbound Golf Tourism Philippines, the Department of Tourism and the Tourism Promotions Board, the country played host to the IAGTOs’ Asian Golf Tourism Convention (AGTC), the biggest golf travel fair in Asia, in an attempt to jump-start the country’s golf tourism market and to showcase to the world that it is, indeed, more fun in the Philippines.
Walton relayed in his opening address, “Thanks to the efforts of the Philippines Department of Tourism and its Tourism Promotion Board, the world’s leading golf tour operators will see for themselves an amazing array of golf experiences—including the Tagaytay Highlands, Clark/Angeles City and Metro Manila—for the first time, in the case of the majority of them. At the convention itself, close to 1,000 meetings will take place between international tour operators and Philippine golf course, hotels, inbound operators and other golf tourism suppliers. I have no doubt that this will lead to an immediate and sustainable growth in golf tourism to the Philippines.”
He added: “Golfers spend 120 percent more per person per day in destination compared to general leisure tourists—more than double. This is revenue for the country’s tourism industry and not just the golf courses, as 75 percent of spending is concentrated on hotels, restaurants, shopping and transportation.”
Now in its seventh year, the AGTC is also designed to showcase the host destination to the participating golf tour operators, to generate sustainable growth in golf travel to the host destination of this high-revenue, low-impact tourism sector.
Given that quite little was known by the world golf tourism market about the Philippines and what it had to offer, the number of delegates to this edition of the AGTC was up by 25 percent over last year’s meeting in Vietnam. AGTC 2018 attracted over 560 participants, including 200 plus golf tour operators from 33 countries. A record number of golf tour operators (over 160) participated in golf familiarization tours before and after the Convention, experiencing firsthand what the Philippines has to offer the international golf traveler.
Golf tourism is a blue-sky opportunity for the country. We might not have as many golf courses as the industry leaders in the region, but the golf courses that we do have can compare to any in the region. Right now, the most pressing issue is for the Philippines to cope with the demand that the AGTC is sure to generate and to address any shortcomings that might have become evident in the course of the convention.
In the end, it will take a coordinated effort between all the industry stakeholders to build our foundling golf tourism industry into one as robust and as profitable as our neighbors, China, Thailand and Malaysia. Yes, there are prevailing issues that have limited the industry’s growth in the past. But that was then, this is now. Today’s reality is that the golf clubs, tour operators and government are now all at the same table working toward a common goal. If we can keep this up, good things are bound to happen.