For only the second time in its history The Ryder Cup is leaving the British Isles. In 1997 the biennial match with the United States was played in Spain. In 2018 it will land at Le Golf National, Paris, France.
As one of the greatest sporting events in the world, The Ryder Cup presents a tremendous opportunity, not only to Le Golf National as host venue, but for France as a whole to create a lasting legacy of golf tourism.
As a golf destination, France has remained something of a hidden gem. Despite being home to 17 of Continental Europe’s top 100 courses*, including its no. 1 layout at Morfontaine, France has never put its 599 courses on the map of global golf travel.
As with many other nations, France has long made the error of mistaking golf for a sport. The truth is that golf is a travel and leisure industry in a way that no other sport can claim. You don’t travel to other countries to play their tennis courts or football pitches – the uniqueness of our game is that each golf course is written into the landscape of its home. This distinction creates a different and unique relationship between golf and tourism.
That relationship was clear at the 2017 International Golf Travel Market convention in France, where we saw something new from French golf resorts: instead of standing as individuals, the French exhibitors really came together as a team. They could all see the benefit of growing the whole of France as a golf destination through The Ryder Cup. And beyond the venues themselves, Atout France, the national agency responsible for promoting travel, has woken up to golf, realising what it is and what it can do from an economic standpoint. In collaboration with the French Golf Federation, Atout France is seizing the opportunity to better position France in the golf tourism sector with a strategic marketing campaign aimed at local and international markets, linking golf offerings with local cultural attractions. Everyone is working together to create a lasting legacy from this Ryder Cup, a legacy of golf tourism in France that benefits us all.
There are some excellent lessons to be learned from this that go beyond The Ryder Cup and touch the whole industry. Golf resorts working together on a national basis to turn their country into a golf destination makes tremendous sense. And linking up with national tourism boards, showing them the positive impact of a strong golf industry on tourism, is also smart business – especially in countries where golf is only an emerging market. It may have taken The Ryder Cup to wake France up to this opportunity, but there’s no reason that other resorts and clubs in other countries shouldn’t take the same attitude of collaboration.
As European Tour Destinations we already have a sense of this methodology, sharing ideas and working together under a globally recognised and respected brand to lift the game as a whole. Because, though we can all be seen as competitors, we also have the same goal – to grow the golf industry globally. And that has to be the long game that we all play together if we want the industry to thrive.
By Paul Armitage
