ASKERNISH GOLF WEEKEND WORTH £18,000 TO LOCAL ECONOMY
NEWS RELEASE
The last weekend in August saw the Askernish Open Golf Weekend held at the restored ‘Old’ Tom Morris golf course on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides.
This was the first year that the Askernish Open was expanded into a weekend festival of golf in South Uist; an initiative driven by Community Estate Company Storas Uibhist’s Askernish Development Manager John Kemp. John also implemented monitoring tools to evaluate the success of the Open.
This year was hugely successful - there was a 40% increase in competitors over 2010 and the number attending came close to that of the opening of the restored golf course in 2008 when Honorary Club President Kenny Dalglish teed off to huge local and media interest.
Nearly threequarters of all the players came from outside the Uist islands and of these visiting golfers 47% were playing golf at Askernish for the first time. The truly international field came from as far away as the US, Canada, and Belgium, and there was a party of golfers visiting from Finland.
This makes the Askernish Open Golf Weekend a considerable tourism draw to the Islands. The average golf visitor attending it stays for 3 nights and spends just over £300 during their time on the isles. Overall, this weekend of golf was worth an approximate 179 tourist days and over £18,000 to the Uist economy.
45% of the golfers visiting the islands stayed in B and Bs, whilst 36% stayed in hotels and 39% of the golfers rated their accommodation experience as “very good”. 88% of the visiting golfers accessed the islands by sea, whilst there was a handful that came by private jet direct to the isles.
100% of the Open Weekend’s participants said they will recommend the Askernish Open Golf Weekend to others, and 99% are considering returning to play again in 2012.
Plans are already afoot for the further development of the Askernish Open Golf Weekend in 2012 to make it bigger and better. March 2012 will also see a new golf & island experience event hosted at Askernish with funding from Scotland’s Islands.
For further information about the Askernish Open Golf Weekend, and the participant survey results contact John Kemp, Askernish Development Manager by e-mailing john.kemp@storasuibhist.co
The last weekend in August saw the Askernish Open Golf Weekend held at the restored ‘Old’ Tom Morris golf course on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides.
This was the first year that the Askernish Open was expanded into a weekend festival of golf in South Uist; an initiative driven by Community Estate Company Storas Uibhist’s Askernish Development Manager John Kemp. John also implemented monitoring tools to evaluate the success of the Open.
This year was hugely successful - there was a 40% increase in competitors over 2010 and the number attending came close to that of the opening of the restored golf course in 2008 when Honorary Club President Kenny Dalglish teed off to huge local and media interest.
Nearly threequarters of all the players came from outside the Uist islands and of these visiting golfers 47% were playing golf at Askernish for the first time. The truly international field came from as far away as the US, Canada, and Belgium, and there was a party of golfers visiting from Finland.
This makes the Askernish Open Golf Weekend a considerable tourism draw to the Islands. The average golf visitor attending it stays for 3 nights and spends just over £300 during their time on the isles. Overall, this weekend of golf was worth an approximate 179 tourist days and over £18,000 to the Uist economy.
45% of the golfers visiting the islands stayed in B and Bs, whilst 36% stayed in hotels and 39% of the golfers rated their accommodation experience as “very good”. 88% of the visiting golfers accessed the islands by sea, whilst there was a handful that came by private jet direct to the isles.
100% of the Open Weekend’s participants said they will recommend the Askernish Open Golf Weekend to others, and 99% are considering returning to play again in 2012.
Plans are already afoot for the further development of the Askernish Open Golf Weekend in 2012 to make it bigger and better. March 2012 will also see a new golf & island experience event hosted at Askernish with funding from Scotland’s Islands.
For further information about the Askernish Open Golf Weekend, and the participant survey results contact John Kemp, Askernish Development Manager by e-mailing john.kemp@storasuibhist.co
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posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Wednesday, August 31, 2011
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