Tag Archives: golf tourism

WINSTONgolf steps up in Sweden

winstongolf_logoWINSTONgolf, a golf resort in north-eastern Germany, is planning a marketing campaign in
Sweden in 2015. True Golf Marketing worked out the details and will help WINSTONgolf to attract more Swedish golfers with print and online advertising as well as a PR-campaign next year.

The award winning resort has two 18 holes courses (WINSTONopen and WINSTONlinks) and a
9 hole par 3 course. It is located in beautiful nature near Schwerin only a one hour drive away from Rostock, where the ferries from Sweden and Denmark arrive.

Origin Hotels at IGTM 2014 in Como

Origin Hotels at IGTM 2014Origin Hotels in Marrakech is growing its business and manages now 5 Riads in the Medina of Marrakech. For more than a year TGM is helping Origin Hotels to develop and sell their golf product. This year the company exhibited for the first time at the International Golf Travel Market, the most important trade show in golf tourism. TGM represented Origin Hotels in the meetings with tour operators from many different countries and endless networking opportunities at Lake Como in Italy. Origin Hotels also became a member of IAGTO (the International Association of Golf Tour Operators).

Sweden awarded Undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year

Award ceremony at the annual IAGTO gala dinner. Sweden wins the "Undiscovered golf destination of the year" award.

What a week at the annual IGTM golf travel fair in Costa Daurada, 100km south of Barcelona. True Golf Marketing  attended the fair for three years now to support Nordic Travel/Golf in Sweden in its effort to bring more golfers to Sweden. This year was special though, because Sweden as a golf destination has finally been recognized and received the prestigious “2014 Undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year” award.

150 journalists of the International Golf Travel Writers Association gave their votes and had to choose from nominees. Hopefully this award will help many tour operators, journalists and most importantly travellers to discover Sweden as a golf destination. You can read the full press release at the end of this entry.

The days at the Port Aventura convention centers were filled with meetings with tour operators from all over the world. All of them interesting, some more promising than others though. The program included a fabulous welcome night at La Boella, the IAGTO party in the wild west part of the amusement park (including a ride in a roller coaster) and finally on Thursday night the big gala dinner in the old bullfighting ring of Tarragona, that has been transformed in a modern event arena.

Here is the full press release from the Swedish Golf Federation:

The International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO) has named Sweden as the 2014 Undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year. The announcement headlined the global golf tourim organisation’s annual Awards Gala Dinner in Tarragona, Costa Daurada, Spain earlier today.

“We are thrilled to receive this award that will let the rest of the world in on one of golf’s best kept secrets,” says Christer Bergfors, president of The Swedish Golf Federation. “Sweden has made a name for itself as a golfing nation with the success of golfing legend Annika Sörenstam and PGA Tour players like Jesper Parnevik, Henrik Stenson, Peter Hanson and Jonas Blixt. This is an achievement made more remarkable given the long winters, but unsurprising given the quality of the golf courses,” adds Bergfors.

The Undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year Award was announced as part of the influential IAGTO Awards, held at the end of International Golf Travel Market, the golf travel industry’s annual trade show. The award is voted on by 150 members of the International Golf Travel Writers Association, which is administered by IAGTO. Tasked with identifying an “undiscovered gem” among the world’s golf destinations, members assess each nomination against criterias as to what extent the destination is “undiscovered”, qualities that make it an interesting golf destination, attractiveness of the region and courses, quality and accessibility of the courses.

Sweden has 480 courses with 474 000 members. Here you will find championship courses such as Bro Hof Slott, Barsebäck GCC and Halmstad GC. In 2003 and 2007, Sweden hosted the Solheim Cup at Barsebäck and Halmstad and the European Tour tournament Nordea Masters been held at Bro Hof this year. 13 Swedish golf courses made to the prestigious Rolex World´s Top 1000 Golf Courses last year and Bro Hof Slott is ranked second-best European course outside Great Britain by Golf World.

1973 Scandinavian Enterprise Open (SEO) was the first Swedish tournament on The European Tour and every year since has seen a tournament in Sweden. Sweden has currently two tournaments on the European Tours. In 2014 both will be played in Skåne, the southern part of Sweden. Nordea Masters at PGA National in Bara and Helsingborg Open for ladies at Vasatorp Golf Club outside Helsingborg.

Seven questions with Golf Digest Sweden

Golf Digest CoverGerman golf balls and Swedish golf courses – Golf Digest Sverige sat down with True Golf Marketing to discuss among other things the state of golf tourism in Sweden and why the VICE golf balls will be a big success in the scandinavian country. We had a lot to talk about over a long lunch and you can read the results in the monthly column “Sju Frågor” in the current issue of Golf Digest Sverige.

For those, who can’t buy the Swedish Golf Digest, you can see and read the article here:

Famtrip to Stockholm – Experience Bro Hof Slott and Ullna GC

Stockholm-Visitors-Board-Djurg.mot-Slottet-125_Foto-SBR_500x333Bro Hof Slott Stadium Course Air_500x333Fågelbro Golf Club outside StockholmBro Hof Slott ClubUllna Golf ClubDrottningholm__Clubhouse_18_hole_Stockholm_602x418If you are a tour operator and a member of IAGTO, you can login in to their website right now and find our invitation to this years famtrip to Stockholm that we are offering together with Nordic Travel. If you are not a member, but still interested in doing the trip, then you should contact us immediately.

The famtrip will take place June 17-21 this year and includes four fantastic golf courses and location checks of several different hotels in Stockholm. We will play Bro Hof Slott GC, Ullna GC, Royal Drottningholm GC and Fågelbro Golf & Country Club. Four very different golf clubs and courses, each worth a visit when you come to Stockholm.

The region truly offers a lot for golfers. More than 60 golf courses can be reached from the city center within a good hour of driving. Very high standards in course design, club facilities, equipment, coaching and restaurants – and you can play longer! In summer it is daylight at least until 10.30 pm.

The capital of Sweden is built on 14 islands and surrounded by water of the Baltic sea and lake Mälaren. The beautiful city offers rich cultural life, restaurants, sightseeing and shopping that will make any day without playing golf a fantastic experience. Many hotels in all categories are available in Stockholm.

Our days will be filled with golf, good food and everything else Sweden’s capital has to offer. The trip takes place around midsummer, which means the guests can enjoy the longest days of the year.

Please do not hesitate to contact us, if you are a tour operator and would like to visit Stockholm. The capacity is very limited and the trip will be fully booked very quickly.

Photo credits: Stockholm Visitors Board, Bro Hof Slott, Lennart Hyse, Jacob Sjoman, Royal Drottningholm GC, Ullna GC.

Golf famtrip to Cape Town

I am very much looking forward to next week, because I will be able to get away from the European winter for a week and visit Cape Town in South Africa. It will be my personal famtrip down south and I meet up with our client Giltedge Golf to discuss next seasons projects and also to check out a couple of hotels and golf courses.  The program is not totally set, but I will give you a preview of what we are going to do.

We stay one night at Kleine Zalze Lodge in the winelands just outside Stellenbosch. And we are going to play Pearl Valley and spend some time drinking a good wine. In Cape Town we chose to visit the Protea Hotel Breakwater, which is very close to the waterfront. We will also be at the Arabella Hotel and Spa and play their golf course. The plan is to play golf every day, see a hotel every day and have some business meetings as well. It will be quite busy.

Warren playing Golf in South AFrica

Warren Weitsz from Giltedge Golf

I am flying from Stockholm this time, there are plenty of good connections with Star Alliance. A short flight to Munich, less than two hours at the airport and then Lufthansa will take me directly to Cape Town. Germany (from Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Munich) and Switzerland (from Zurich) have a lot of direct connections to Johannesburg and Cape Town and those airports are easily accessible from Scandinavia as well. And of course, if you are flying via Heathrow or the new Arabic hubs, you will have even more options to choose from.

It is very simple flight despite the total 17hrs flight time. Flying overnight and staying in the same time zone means, that you wake up the next morning and you are ready to go. This is a  huge advantage for South Africa compared to e.g. Thailand or the  Caribbean. It even makes a shorter trip of 6 or 7 nights possible.

So expect a lot of pictures and news here in this blog from the trip and also be ready to put South Africa on the list for your next golf vacation. I will surely enjoy my business trip into the sun.

Nordic Golf Travelers Network

Last week the golf tourism world – or at least a small part of it – gathered in Stockholm to attend the annual Nordic Golf Travelers Network. The sixth edition of this trade show is, as always, designed purely as a B2B meeting place with pre- booked 15-minutes appointments.

Nordic Golf Traveler Network 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden

The golf destinations exhibiting are mainly from Europe with the exemptions of Morocco and Brazil this year. The main focus for everyone is to meet Swedish tour operators and with more than 20 attending everyone had plenty of networking opportunities. Some media, golf pros and club manager also stopped by, which makes it even more interesting for me. The day ends with a fun dinner and party, that was hosted by Hilton Worldwide, ironically at Radisson Strand Hotel. We ended up at Stockholms no. 1 Restaurant and Bar “Riche” together with the manager of Sweden’s best golf club Bro Hof Slott.

The organizers of the NGTN is World Sports & Media, a Nordic marketing agency specializing in services & events in the sport industry and particularly marketing services towards the golf industry. True Golf Marketing is working with World Sports & Media on several different projects.

Nordic Golf Traveler Network 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden