IN A move to tap the lucrative international golf tourism market, Accor has entered into a partnership agreement with Great Golf Courses of Australia (GGA) to promote and sell golf itineraries in potential markets such as the Americas, Europe and particularly Asia.
Both partners will work together to develop golfing itineraries for individuals, incentive groups and special events.
The partnership will provide opportunities to attract new, high-yielding business, said Simon McGrath, Pacific vice president of Accor, which is said to be Australia’s largest golf resort operator with 13 golf resorts in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
He said: “We will particularly look at emerging markets such as China, because over 40 of our hotels and resorts in Australia have introduced the China Optimum Service Standards programme, making them very popular with Chinese travellers.
“There are a number of other Asian markets that are showing encouraging potential, while we will also continue to target traditional golfing markets such as the US, the UK, Europe and Japan.”
Lauding the new partnership as one with a key milestone, Tourism Australia managing director, Andrew McEvoy, remarked: “Bookings through GGA are already running at 200 rounds a month, with group bookings from China, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, the US, Japan, the UK, Denmark, Germany and even Finland.”
A collaboration of Australia’s top golf courses, GGA offers a comprehensive and centralised resource for golfers, media and trade to access information on the country’s leading golf courses and iconic golf tourism experiences.
