South Carolina’s Charleston will welcome a record number of golf industry delegates from around the world when it plays host to North America’s largest annual golf tourism event next week.

Staged by global golf tourism industry IAGTO (International Association of Golf Tour Operators), the sixth annual North American Golf Tourism Convention (NAC) is a complete sell-out, with the 343 delegates including 110 golf tour operators from 24 countries, all promoting and selling golf vacations to North American golf destinations.

Over the course of the convention, from 8-11 June, they will meet representatives from 140 golf resorts, golf courses, hotels, receptive operators and tourist boards primarily from the USA but also from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America. The event will see big contingents of operators from Canada, the USA, the UK and Germany, and from as far afield as China, New Zealand, Iceland, Thailand, Paraguay and India.

IAGTO has witnessed a surge of interest from golf resorts and hotels in the USA in particular that are looking to increase their international visitor business, with first-time NAC attendees coming from all over the USA, Canada, Central America, and the Caribbean including: California’s Sheraton Carlsbad Resort and Sycuan Golf Resort; the New York Golf Trail The Boulders resort in Scottsdale, Arizona; the Central Oregon Visitors Association; MGM Resorts International and the Stallion Mountain Golf Club in Las Vegas; Hawaii’s Kanapaali Golf Course; Abaco, Bahamas, resort Treasure Cay; Golf Whistler in Canada; Mukul Beach Golf & Spa, Nicaragua; Puerto Rico’s Royal Isabela and Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa;  and El Camaleon Golf Course Mayakoba, Mexico.

IAGTO Chief Executive Peter Walton said: “Charleston has proved to be an incredibly popular draw for the world’s golf tour operators selling North America and for the destination’s golf tourism industry. We could not have selected a better host city for this important event. We launched the NAC six years ago specifically to support North America’s golf travel industry at the beginning of the economic crisis, and what we are seeing right now is a clear demonstration of the resurgence of national economies and international golf tourism.

“2014 will mark the third consecutive year of growth in global golf tourism so this feeling of optimism is well founded. Globally, IAGTO operator sales grew by an average 21.4% from 2011-2013 and bookings taken in January and February this year were up 14.5% on the same period in 2013.”

In IAGTO’s annual golf tourism survey, the USA was considered the fifth most important golf destination by IAGTO operators and took pole position for its rate of growth from 2012-2013.

Explaining what the NAC does for the North American industry, Peter Walton added: “More than 3,000 meetings have already been pre-booked between buyers and suppliers over two days in Charleston and this is where the deals will be done that will attract international golf visitors to North American destinations in ever increasing numbers. We cannot underestimate the importance of this opportunity in terms of getting both sides of our industry together and providing them space to be both creative and competitive.”

The sixth IAGTO North America Golf Tourism Convention takes places from 8-11 June and includes a welcome reception at Charleston’s historic Mills House hotel, two days of scheduled appointments at the Charleston Convention Centre and a golf tournament on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, host course for the infamous “War by the Shore” Ryder Cup in 1991.

INFORMATION FOR THE EDITOR

Full event details can be viewed via www.iagto.com/NAC

Established in 1997, IAGTO is the global trade organisation of the golf tourism industry, and has over 2250 members in 99 countries including more than 550 golf tour operator members in 62 countries, which control more than 85% of golf holiday packages sold worldwide and which collectively have annual sales of over US$2 billion. IAGTO runs annual Asia and North America Golf Tourism Conventions, along with regular Destination Conventions. IAGTO established the International Golf Travel Market, now owned and operated by Reed Travel Exhibitions, in 1997 and the International Golf Travel Writers Association in 2000. IAGTO also runs the prestigious annual IAGTO Awards and the IAGTO Excellence Awards.