Golf in Andalusia is, above all, synonymous with employment. . The golf industry offers stable and quality job opportunities, with 52,000 people within our community employed directly or indirectly in the golfing sector. The sport contributes €5.4 billion to the region’s economy, a figure that equates to a considerable 3% of Andalusia’s GDP
On the other hand, Andalusian golf has grown by more than 1,000 licenses during 2020. Outdoors, sun, nature and the practice of a dynamic physical exercise, recommended by doctors and experts to be enjoyed at any age, due to its multiple benefits physical and mental. Golf is health and, increasingly people are encouraged to practice it.
The Royal Andalusian Golf Federation had – as of November 30, 2019 – a total of 44,301 federated licenses. Almost a year later, 2020 closed with a total of 45,376 federated players, which means that more than 1,000 new players have become fond of Golf in our Community during these months.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world as we knew it barely a year ago, it has completely transformed our reality and routines. The pandemic has placed us well and truly out of our comfort zone, changed the way we interact with others, our working habits, and even the way in which we thinking as we begin to value what really matters more than ever.
It should be noted that approximately 42 percent of these new licenses are associated with initiation campaigns carried out by Andalusian golf courses and schools, and promoted by the Royal Spanish Golf Federation and the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation. These actions include, among others, introductory courses for beginners that are aimed at professional groups, social groups, or companies; as well as “Friends Cup”, a fun tournament in which a federated golfer invites a friend who has never set foot on a golf course.
Regarding the licenses of children’s and youth categories, there has been an increase of almost 150 new federation members compared to last year, great news for base sport. It should be remembered that, in Andalusia, and thanks to the ‘Young Golf’ program of the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation, children and young people up to 29 years of age enjoy excellent conditions and special prices to play golf on the more than fifty golf courses of all the Andalusian geography assigned to the program.
In Andalusia, enjoying the sun and playing golf twelve months a year is a reality. You can practice your favorite sport in any of the eight provinces and on world-renowned golf courses projected by legendary players or by the most prestigious designers in the world. Andalusia is the leading golf tourist destination in Europe due to the quality of its courses, located in privileged areas with beautiful landscapes and, many of them, close to idyllic beaches.
It can be enjoyed equally whether you are a beginner, amateur or professional. On the Costa del Sol you will find more than half of the golf courses in Andalusia; in Cádiz you will be surprised by its manicured greens and the dream beaches of its coastline; on the Costa Tropical you can combine beach, golf and snow; Almería offers a dozen courses, including two desert types in Arizona, and in the province of Huelva they stand out for their unique landscapes such as the Doñana National Park, with fields of spectacular beauty. The inland provinces Seville, Córdoba and Jaén complete the varied golf offer in Andalusia.
Important amateur tournaments are held throughout the year on the golf courses of Andalusia. In the professional category, Andalusia annually hosts several of the championships of the European Golf Circuit, bringing together the best golfers in the world and in which as an amateur you can also enjoy the great beauty of this sport in this incomparable setting that is Andalusia.
Andalusia leads the classification of income from golf tourism, and a large part of this leadership does not correspond to spending on the golf courses themselves but to the ability to import foreign capital that this industry represents. Andalusia is the community in Spain with the highest number of golf courses, which, according to the data, bill 27.9% of the national total (216.79 million euros). The global economic impact of Andalusian golf and golf tourism in Andalusia is much greater than the wealth generated directly by the courses themselves: a total of 5,426 million euros, which corresponds to 42.5% of what the whole of the country.
The capacity of golf as an importer of capital from abroad, both for tourism activity and for investment in second homes, together with the great distribution of tourism income among numerous companies, SMEs and the self-employed, makes golf tourism key in the economic recovery from the crisis derived from Covid-19. For this, it is necessary to have adequate tools common to the rest of the tourism sector.
Golf has challenged the coronavirus this winter with all its open courses in Cádiz, for example. “Europe is eager to travel and we must be prepared” say the experts in the field within the province of Cadiz.
The province of Cádiz has all the characteristics that golf lovers demand. For years, the area has become one of the benchmarks for a type of client who finds in these fields everything they need to enjoy playing their favorite sport. The climate, the environment, the gastronomy and, above all, the quality of its courses are, without a doubt, a tough rival even for a pandemic. For this reason, the coronavirus is not going to stop the offer of the province of Cadiz despite the inconveniences and limitations.
