US Sports Media with an Audience Reach of 90 million to enjoy tailored tour of golf courses along west coast
Eleven influential golf writers, broadcasters and online media from the US, with a combined audience reach of almost 90 million, will arrive next Monday (20th July) to play some of the key golf courses along the Wild Atlantic Way.
The visiting media are here as part of a visit, hosted and supported by Fáilte Ireland, who have designed an itinerary to showcase its top golf courses on the Wild Atlantic Way. The week-long visit will create an opportunity for the US media to experience first-hand a diverse range of courses in Donegal such as the challenging Glashedy Links Course at Ballyliffin Golf Club to the more informal and relaxing Portsalon Golf Club together with the Sandy Hills course at Rosapenna, said to be a beast of a course, but nevertheless it should be an enjoyable test for the US media.
Among the group visiting is John Garrity, senior writer with Sports Illustrated USA, which has a circulation of 23 million alone. John has connections in the West, with his ancestors coming from Carne, Co Mayo.
Ciara Sugrue, Head of International Publicity with Fáilte Ireland, welcomed the benefits provided by the US group’s visit to the Wild Atlantic Way, saying:
“North Americans are among the biggest spenders during their stay here in Ireland, so we welcome these top US golf media who will spread the word on our world class golf courses and the Wild Atlantic Way to their readers and followers at home. Our own research shows that the golf sector generates over €200m from overseas visitors for the Irish economy and, with 200,000 international visitors playing golf while in Ireland last year, each golfing visitor is worth on average two and a half times that of the average tourist.“
The group also played at Portstewart Golf Club, this multi-accolade winning links course before finishing their golfing experience at the County Sligo (Rosses Point) Golf Links, giving them a final chance on the tour to test themselves against the elements on the Wild Atlantic Way.
Ms Sugrue continued:
“We in Fáilte Ireland believe that trips such as these encourage and help maintain Ireland’s reputation as a destination for high quality and challenging golf and, with the dollar being so strong, we hope to see many more American golfing visitors to our shores this year. In 2014 we welcomed over 1 million US visitors which generated revenue of over €866 million and most encouraging for this year, latest figures indicate that we are already experiencing double digit growth on last year.”
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Note to Editor
Fáilte Ireland, the national tourism development authority, was established in 2003 to guide and promote tourism as a leading indigenous component of the Irish economy.
The tourism and hospitality industry employs an estimated 205,000 people and generates over €6 billion in revenue a year.
Golf in Ireland
Estimates derived from Fáilte Ireland research reveal that the golf sector provided a total overseas spend of over €200 million for the Irish economy. The analysis of the value and profile of overseas golf visitors to Ireland estimates that around 200,000 tourists having played golf while in Ireland, with on average, those golfing tourists spending approximately €1,000 each whilst here, about twice the amount of the average tourist.
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