Hotel revenue management and sales and marketing experts over the past few years have shared many strategies for finding any and all business across the segments, especially as the hotel industry embarked on its recovery from the depths of the pandemic. As a result, there has been an emphasis on microsegmentation.
Microsegmentation, in the hotel industry specifically, meant finding a unique cluster of customers beyond the traditional demand segments such as meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.
One particular segment that I hadn't heard much about was golf tourism.
It had me wondering why, as this sport fits the bill for those who want to practice social distancing but still have an in-person experience. I, myself, found love for the game again during the pandemic.
As a matter of fact, The National Golf Foundation deemed 2020 as golf's "year of resurgence," Golf Digest reported.
"How good was 2020 historically? Tiger Woods good," Golf Digest wrote.
In 2020, there was a total of 24.8 million golfers recorded in the U.S., which was an increase of 500,000 from 2019.
“There hasn’t been this much optimism and new activity in the golf business since the turn of the century,” Joe Beditz, National Golf Foundation president and CEO, told the website, noting “spring shutdowns gave way to an unprecedented summer and fall in terms of play, golfer introductions and reintroductions, and robust, late-season spending."
Within the past four months, I've seen a wave of PR pitches come through my inbox pertaining to golf resorts rolling out packages, perks and new directors to oversee the courses.
So it got me further thinking, "How lucrative is golf tourism?"
From a few internet searches, I found that golf tourism is considered "the most potential instrument to boost tourism," according to TheAPosition, a golf and travel website.
It's been reported by TheAPosition that golf travelers spend on average 2.5 times more at their destination than a leisure tourist. Additionally, a study found that the average length of stay for a domestic traveler going to California was 3.6 days, while a golf traveler stays between four and six days. As expected, that length of stay is even greater for overseas golf travelers, according to Golf Travel Consulting.
A recent report from Technavio shows the golf tourism market value is expected to grow by $41 billion from 2020 to 2025. This amounts to a compound annual growth rate of 17.83% during that time period.
Not only does golf tourism seemingly bring in a nice chunk of revenue for hotels, if done right, it comes with additional benefits. TheAPosition notes many destinations can manage to prolong the heavy leisure season with golf tourism and minimize the shoulder season.
"Golf tourism contributes positively to the development and growth of certain sectors such as the spa sector. [It also] extends revenue from tourism ancillaries such as the meeting and incentive trade," the article stated.
Now, if you're reading this thinking, "Dana, our hotel doesn't have a golf course, so how does this blog help me and my property. Why should I care?"
Allow me to take you back a step. In my last blog, I focused on why/how hoteliers should/can extend their leisure season through packages and programming.
I think any hotel can tap into golf packages, regardless of having a course or not. Hoteliers can think about partnering with their local Top Golf, public golf course or even hosting viewing parties for the PGA Tour.
If there's one thing I know hoteliers can do, it's be creative. Think outside of the tee box (pun intended) and see what revenue-generating opportunities your property can create around this lucrative demand segment.
Are your resorts achieving strong demand from golf tourism? What creative packages are working for your property? Let me know what you think via email, Twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or CoStar Group and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concern.