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Date Published: 22/05/2023

Just how popular is golf in Spain really? In-depth study reveals all...

A new study has revealed that while Brits are the biggest golfers in Spain, the Irish spend the most

Spain is the top destination for European golfers to visit its hundreds of quality golf courses, and a lot of foreign and European golf players own property in Spain on a golf course.

But just how popular is golf in Spain, how profitable is it, and who are the foreign tourists who spend the most to come to Spain to play golf?

A study carried out by Juan Santaló at IE University for the Spanish Golf Courses Association has found that foreign golf tourists own more than 280,000 homes in Spain, with an estimated investment of 4.2 billion euros.

Of the 4.2 million registered golf players in Europe, more than a quarter come to Spain to play the sport, which means that almost 97% of foreigners come from this continent. Spain is also the leader in organising international professional tournaments in continental Europe.

Most foreign golfers in Spain are British, Swedish, German and Irish, with the latter the ones who spend the most per day.

Within Spain, the autonomous communities that receive the most income from golf tourism are Andalusia, Madrid and Catalonia.

After the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in Spain, golf tourism is recovering to pre-2019 levels, according to the Golf Courses Association.

Golf tourism has a direct impact on the Spanish economy of around 5.418 billion euros per year (777 million from the turnover of golf courses and 4.64 billion from the additional spending of tourists practising this sport).

The figure rises to 12.769 billion if the indirect and induced effects are taken into account (1.585 billion from the courses and another 11.183 billion from spending by sportsmen and women).

In terms of employment, 14,276 jobs are created by golf tourism in Spain, 95% of which are permanent and full-time job. To this, the authors of the study add the more than 107,000 jobs that created by the expenditure made by the players on their holidays in Spain, up to a total of 121,400 jobs.

The peaks of greatest activity are in March-April and October-November, outside the July-August high season, which helps to deseasonalise the profile of tourism.

The income level of these players is significantly higher than average: high and upper-middle income visitors account for 63% of golf tourism, almost double that of international visitors overall.

Of the 1.2 million arrivals in 2018, the last year for which fully aggregated data exists, almost 402,000 were British, 173,000 were German and 275,000 were Nordic.

Using Mastercard data on the use of cards by foreigners visiting Spain, the report notes that Brits spent around 2,807 euros per trip and 248 euros average daily spend per person.

The Swedes spent 5,214 euros per person per trip and 478 euros per person per day and in third place is Germany, with averages of 3,910 euros per person per trip and 343 euros per day.

The Irish spent the most, both in terms of stay (6,014 euros) and daily expenditure (584 euros).

By region, of the 777.7 million euros directly invoiced by the golf courses, the highest spending was in Andalusia (217 million), Madrid (114 million) and Catalonia (87.3 million).

At the same time, golf tourism represents an additional investment in housing. The value of investment in real estate on golf courses amounts to 41.937 billion euros, with 283,195 homes owned.

In Andalusia, 102,439 foreign golfers own their own homes, with an average property value of 147,242 euros; in Valencia, 101,179 players own their own homes, with an average value of 134,087 euros, and the Region of Murcia is in third place, with 29,051 homes and a value of 102,283 euros.

However, the highest average per property is found in the two archipelagos. The Canary Islands registers 226,450 euros (12,424 owners) and the Balearic Islands stands at 224,885 euros (22,300 owners). They are followed by Madrid, with 198,387 euros for 1,629 residences.

In Spain there are 393 separate companies who own golf courses, which earn an annual average of 1.98 million, with differences between the municipally owned facilities (805,000 euros) and those owned by the members, where it reaches 3.4 million.

An 18-hole green fee in high season has an average price of 90 euros, of which the owners collect 5.80 euros of profit.

According to the report, 57.3% of golf course management companies are not profitable due to high fixed costs and high taxation.

Images: Archive

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