At the ceremony for the German golf awards, the Rheingolf Awards, GOLF IN AUSTRIA received the trophy in the category Golf Tourism in Europe on Saturday, 14th February 2009.
Nicole Ruisz, marketing director for Golf in Austria, accepted the “Bambi of the golf scene” before 230 invited guests, all decision-makers in the German golf equipment and golf tourism industry, at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Cologne. She expressed thanks on behalf of the 136 golf courses and hotels that have been working for the last 21 years to provide the perfect golf holiday for their guests, and on behalf of the GOLF IN AUSTRIA president Franz Schellhorn, who considerably helped to shape the sizeable economic role golf tourism plays in Austria.
In his speech, Jürgen Wirtz, jury vice-president and general manager of the RadissonSAS in Cologne, paid tribute to the extraordinary mutual cooperation and the professional, collective marketing effort of this team of specialists for golf holidays in Austria. He himself is inspired by the diversity of the landscape, by the hospitality and the exceptional quality of the Austrian golf offerings. The GOLF IN AUSTRIA presentations are bold, trendy and self-assured and the gracious hospitality is already legendary.
The Rheingolf Awards honour golf luminaries who have shown exceptional support for a golf region or who have shown exceptional dedication in the promotion of golf in Germany. The German golf awards were presented in seven categories on Saturday evening at a banquet featuring an outstanding entertainment programme. The Premiere channel’s golf anchorman Carlo Knauss emceed the evening with his usual aplomb.
The jury president Michael Jacoby organised a pleasant and entertaining evening: a gathering of the entire German-speaking golf scene whose elegant awards set the standards for the whole industry.
The winners of the seven categories are:
Golf Tourism in Germany: Otto Lindner, Lindner Hotels
Golf Tourism in Europe: Nicole Ruisz, Franz Schellhorn, Golf in Austria
Golf Tourism Worldwide: Dieter Lindner, Classic Golf Tours
Golf Personality of the Year: Günther Kessler
Golf Editorial Department of the Year: Nina Weidinger, editor-in-chief of Golfweek
Golf Event of the Year: Hypo Vereinsbank Ladies German Open - Nikolaus Peltzer (DGS), Gabriele Volz (HVB), Jürgen Wegmann (DGV)
Meritorious Award: Hansgeorg Albrecht, Albrecht Verlag
At the largest European golf tradeshow, the Rheingolf, which was held last weekend, GOLF IN AUSTRIA demonstrated Austrian hospitality for the 26,700 visitors with a golfer’s snack, a nearest-to-the-pin competition on a golf simulator and last but not least, 30 hotel and golf club managers, who were promoting their latest holiday packages at the tradeshow.
GOLF IN AUSTRIA has been presented at the largest tourism stand at German-speaking golf tradeshows every year for more than 10 years. Their success is evidenced by the consistently high number of Austrian exhibitors and by the overall economic figures. Golf tourism generates more than 2 billion Euros of added value in Austria per season. That is 1/6 of the total added value of summer tourism in Austria.
Picture caption 1:
30 GOLF IN AUSTRIA hotel and golf club managers celebrated the “Golf Tourism in Europe” award at the Rheingolf with their president Franz Schellhorn and the team from the GOLF IN AUSTRIA headquarters.
