During the second half of 2019, I introduced the No 1 golf travel publication on Google — Destination Golf Travel — into our region. This was in preparation for the launch of the publication’s regional Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands golf courses’ guide.
Preparing the ground involved broad reaching discussions, in person and via phone and e-mail across the region, with numerous golf clubs, resorts, travel companies, tour operators and venues. Aside from the truth, or the merits, of this argument, the concept of caveat emptor springs to mind, and that the golfers are willing to pay the going rates. It also suggests that without the need for a price war this must surely represent an obvious opportunity for the other regions.
Providing a compelling narrative to promote the region’s golf has to be the starting point, while engaging in a collective and continual marketing effort will be the follow through.Government bodies are notoriously inefficient, which issues are often coupled to staffing and resources problems that are associated with this type of body everywhere in the world.
That said and outside the missed appointments and phone calls, it is often forgotten, that the tourism bodies have the overall SA tourism package to consider in marketing brand SA as a whole.