The sector predicts a recovery that will exceed the figures for 2019 but requests reductions in VAT, IBI and water to compete
The Minister of the Presidency, Tourism and Culture, Marcos Ortuño, announced this Friday, at the clubhouse of the La Manga Club golf course, that the regional government will launch several initiatives, among which he highlighted “a reactivation plan endowed with 250,000 euros to sign agreements with 30 European tour operators, and a specific promotion plan with another 100,000 euros. Likewise, it has the reactivation of the activity of the Corvera Airport. “We already have one million confirmed seats on flights, which represents 96% of what was achieved in 2019,” said the counselor.
Before a select group of representatives of the sector, Ortuño recalled that these specific actions are part of the sports tourism plan “in which it is planned to invest two million euros.” He recalled that in 2019 “we were visited by 165,000 golfers who generated two million overnight stays and an economic impact of 400 million euros.” His intervention took place within the framework of the presentation of a study by the Department of Applied Economics of the University of Murcia.
«The report that we have carried out shows us that golf deseasonalizes the sector, because we have players throughout the year. Most national tourists come from Madrid, Andalusia and the Valencian Community. Among foreigners, more than 40% are from Great Britain, with significant numbers of visitors from the Nordic countries, Holland and Germany”, explained Ángel Pascual, co-author of the document.
«98.7% of those who come to practice this sport in the Region repeat and, in addition, stay for an average of two weeks. Their average expenditure exceeds 100 euros, which is complemented by another 60 or 70 more in gastronomy, excursions, visits to natural spaces and shopping. It is the quality tourism that we are looking for”, explained Pascual, especially taking into account that the general average expenditure per visitor is around 30 euros.
All this means direct income of almost 400 million euros in the golf sector and another 280 million in complementary sectors. “Furthermore, his assessment of the offer is 8.5 in the facilities and services of the golf courses and it does not fall below 7, in the complementary offer,” said Angel Pascual.
The challenges posed are “the search for new clients in international markets, the start-up of golf course projects that were blocked in the 2010 crisis and a series of fiscal and expense problems that the sector wants to moderate”, pointed out this expert.
The president of the Regional Association of Managers of Golf Courses, Joaquín Medina, confirmed that one of his main claims in this regard is the reduction of VAT, from 21% charged to 10%. “That depends on the central government, but we know that there is a proposal from the PP in this regard,” Medina said. Likewise, the sector demands a reduction in the IBI, “so that we stop paying per square meter of golf course as if it were built for development. We ask that the invoice that we pay to the municipalities be reduced by half », he pointed out.
Regarding the price of water “it is 1.20 euros per cubic meter, according to the industrial rate, when that of farmers is 40% lower,” added Medina. All these costs retract many investors and also make it difficult to reactivate projects that were left in the dry dock during the economic crisis ten years ago.
Alhama Golf reopens on June 15
Among the projects whose refloating is confirmed is that of Alhama Golf Resort, on June 15. It is part of the GNK Golf Group, which took control of the Polaris facilities and already reactivated the Hacienda Riquelme complex a few years ago. «There are five or six that the economic crisis of 2018 took away. One that is already in the limelight will be the one in Altaona, which is the old Mossa Trayectum, in Murcia, and we also trust that the same will happen with those in Ochando, La Peraleja and La Tercia Golf”, explained Medina. These last three are in the municipal term of the capital and the first of them is specifically in Sucina.
With these reopenings, the prospects for this year are to be even above the number of visitors who came to the Region to play golf in 2019, according to Joaquín Medina.
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