With the approach of PGA TOUR event the Puerto Rico Open, the Caribbean island’s tourist office is out to double golf visitor numbers through a campaign to spread the message about the fantastic golf available in Puerto Rico to golfers in key markets around the world.
The island’s annual professional golf tournament takes place in March and is sponsored by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC). Gabriel Emanuelli, Global Sales Director for the PRTC, said: “More than 23,000 golfers came to Puerto Rico in 2013 to enjoy our wide variety of excellent courses - and we have the capacity to double that number, which is now our goal.”
He added: “We have the equivalent of 15 18-hole courses at 10 golf clubs and golf resorts that welcome golf visitors, which includes seven golf resorts with golf right on site. We have some amazing stories to tell about golf on our island which the Puerto Rico Open will help to highlight.”
The PRTC has invited a group of IAGTO tour operators to the country for next month’s Puerto Rico Open and plans to begin its campaign by putting across three key messages to golfers:
Caribbean Golf has never been more convenient!
The Puerto Rico Open takes place at Trump international Golf Club, which sits at the heart of a cluster of six excellent courses all within about 20 minutes from hotels in the Rio Mar resort on the north-east coast. There are two courses at Trump International, as well as the Bahia Beach Resort to the west and El Conquistador to the east. San Juan’s international airport is 40 minutes’ drive away by a beautiful beach road or less than 30 minutes via the highway. San Juan itself enjoys direct flights from key golfing markets, and at great prices - including the most competitive air fares for golfers originating out of the US compared with any other island in the Caribbean.
Easily accessible to the west of San Juan is the Dorado Beach Resort with, currently, three 18-hole courses on-site with a variety of accommodation to choose from. The Dorado del Mar Golf Club nearby makes for a cluster of four golf courses, again all within easy reach.
Puerto Rico - a Premier Golf Experience
Golf lovers will adore Puerto Rico’s “Premier Golf Experience”. There are few golfing experiences in the world like that offered at Royal Isabela, with its cliff-top golf course and 20 deluxe casitas, each with its own private deck. Avid golfers who enjoy a bit of luxury will find exactly what they are looking for at the St Regis Bahia Beach Resort and the Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve.
The complete island golf experience
Puerto Rico offers a complete range of golf holidays to match the desires of every type of golf traveller. With golf courses dotted around Puerto Rico’s entire coastline and a great highway infrastructure, golfers can drive the island and drive the fairways with ease. Great combinations include Golf for Families; Golf & Spa; Golf & Gambling; Golf & Fishing and, quite uniquely, even Golf & Surfing!
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INFORMATION FOR EDITORS
Established in 1997, IAGTO is the global trade organisation of the golf tourism industry with over 2,100 member golf resorts, golf courses, hotels, tour operators, tourist boards and other golf tourism suppliers in 97 countries, including 520 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 stages the North America Golf Tourism Convention and Asia Golf Tourism Convention each year. 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. It also runs the prestigious annual IAGTO Awards.
