Le Touquet Golf Resort, France hosted the European Tour Destinations Annual Conference earlier this week. The event was attended by 20 delegates from around the ETD network who were all eager to learn from our keynote speakers, share best practice and sample the delights Northern France has to offer.
The theme for the conference was Today’s Customers Tomorrow and started with a welcome message from incoming European Tour Group CEO Guy Kinnings followed by a presentation from Paul Armitage, Golf Sport Manager for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Paul spoke about the plans for the hosting of the event over two weeks at Le Golf National, a European Tour Destination, and how everyone within golf can benefit from the sport being in the Olympic Games. Later in the afternoon, delegates enjoyed a tour of Le Touquet where the golf courses, steeped in history, blend seamlessly with the new contemporary clubhouse and recently refurbished Manoir hotel.
Hardy Cubasch, Director of Partnerships, Consumer and Commercial Operations at the European Tour Group, kicked off Tuesday with an overview of the Tour’s partnership strategy and how they work alongside some of the world’s biggest brands. The session was insightful and gave the venues plenty of thought on how best to implement it within their resorts.
Our headline speaker for the event was Farhad Heydari, Founder and CEO of House of Heydari. Farhad spoke on the meaning of luxury and how network venues can ensure they are providing all guests with the highest level of service, without compromising on any aspects of delivery. It was an extremely engaging talk, with plenty of input from those in the room, sharing thoughts and ideas on how to improve.
Gary Firkins, Founder of Landmark, was the facilitator of the event, but also shared some research from Syngenta on Golf and Social Media: The Great Divide. It delved deeper into the online world, particularly in golf and perceptions of the game online.
Our penultimate session was presented by Edward Peters, Director of Content, Digital and Business Development. Edward presented to the delegates on why Content is King, and what more they can be doing to grow their social media channels and how the Tour can help with that. The connection between the European Tour Group and European Tour Destinations network has always been a major strength, so seeing the crossover is hugely beneficial to everyone.
The Conference ended with Vic Aliprando, Senior Vice President of TPC Network Operations joining us to enlighten the group on how to entice the American golfer – what is it they are looking for and what our venues can provide in order to increase the number of visitors from the USA. The North American market is important to a lot of our venues, so Vic provided some invaluable advice on how they continue to leverage the relationship between the ETD and TPC, a benefit of the strategic alliance between European Tour Group and the PGA Tour.
The conference feedback was very positive and the team is already working on next year’s Agenda.
Earlier in the month, our real estate partner Fine & Country, hosted their Annual Conference, titled ‘Dare to be Iconic’, which was held in London on the 8th March. It was an opportunity for UK and international real estate professionals to learn from each other and explore new trends. With eleven venues in the network promoting real estate for sale with Fine & Country, it was important for ETD to be present and learn whilst networking with the F&C agents. 
Ian Knox, Head of ETD, then headed to Abu Dhabi for the 10th Asian Golf Tourism Convention, an event hosted by IAGTO, for two days of sales meetings to further promote the ETD network and venues. He had 7 venues join him in the United Arab Emirates and the feedback was hugely successful which is always fantastic for our venues.