Foreign golf tourists worth more than €200m in 2012

Golf brought in more than €200 million in tourism revenue from foreign visitors last year, according to new Fáilte Ireland research.

Some 163,000 holidaymakers played golf in Ireland in 2012. Each overseas golf tourist is worth €1,200 to the economy, 2½ times that of the average tourist, according to the tourist board.

Golfers are mostly affluent men who do not see Ireland as expensive, the research says. Those surveyed reported satisfaction rates of 94 per cent, with 83 per cent saying their holiday was good value.

North American golfers are the biggest spenders, with an average spend of about €1,800 each. About 21 per cent of their expenditure goes on green fees or other golf-related expenditure, indicating their spend on other items such as hotels, bars, restaurants and visitor attractions is higher than that of other tourists.

Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring said the findings were indicative of the high standards in the golf sector.

“Fáilte Ireland is working closely with the golf sector to build further on our success rate,” he added.