Stefano Marsoner

Even at difficult times like the ones we are living at the moment, the Junta de Andalucia remains firm supporting golf as a dynamic movement for tourism. The Costa del Sol, Almeria, Cadiz and Sevilla are preferential destination for visitors from all over the world thanks to the celebration of events such as the El Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, el Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España, el Andalucía Challenge de España y el Andalucía Challenge de Cádiz, el Alps 2020 Andalucía y el Costa de Almería Campeonato de España Senior that have had the support of the Junta de Andalucia. It should be said that this institution has been one of the crucial parts involved to achieve the hosting of the Solheim Cup in Andalucia in 2023.

Even during the worse moments, the good news that unites golf and Andalucia haven’t stopped to resonate. Golf, a very safe sport due to its characteristics, has been among the first sports to be taken up again, not just as amateur but also the official tournaments were back in September. The Junta de Andalucia, following its strategy of promoting the golf tourism, has supported their celebration with the clear intention of strengthening the return of tourism and the reactivation of the economy. Juan Marin Lozano, the Tourism and Regeneration and Justice Counsellor, expressed it with the following words:

“Conscious of the golf relevance in the field of tourism, we will continue, from the Junta de Andalucia, investing in all those proceedings that contribute to strengthen the privileged situation of the Community as a golf destination. It is one of Andalucia’s ‘flagship products’, with a great strategic importance due to the huge national and international projection that the destination gets by being the holder of top level golf tournaments, and due to the contribution of this touristic product to the economic activity of the region. “

This year is even more important to keep the support of the Administration to these events, because it highlights Andalucia’s safety to practice golf and its capacity to hold great sporting events. In the case of the Estrella Damn NA Andalucia Masters, held with exceptional security measures, and even though, this year there has been no public at the course, the live streaming has meant that Andalucia Brand has reached around 850.000 audience just in Spain and at international level, the television broadcast has reached 126 countries worldwide.

We are sure that the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino has also had great media coverage and has provided an excellent opportunity to consolidate the position of the Andalucia brand leading golf touristic destination. This position will be reinforced thanks to the celebration of such a prestigious tournament in Andalucia during the next three years, and of course thanks to the Solheim Cup being held in 2023.

It will be the first time that Spain holds this tournament, the equivalent to the men’s Ryder Cup, and Andalucia will be the one that has the opportunity to show the world its capacity to successfully organize events of such a magnitude, apart from reinforce our destination as one of the great references of the world sport.

Golf is and will be one of the tourism motors in Andalucia and will firmly contribute to this industry recuperation due to its leadership position, wide variety of courses, quality of its facilities and the diversity of its complementary offers as well as security.