THE eyes of the golfing world will be focussed on some of Ireland’s finest links courses next week when golf marketing company North & West Coast Links Golf Ireland leads the Irish field at The PGA Show in Orlando, Florida (Jan 23 - 26).
The PGA Show is the biggest industry golf show in the world attracting more than 40,000 visitors with over 1,000 media from 25 countries and this year’s event will see North & West Coast Links fly the flag for a number of Irish golf courses and hotels, including the spectacular Ballyliffin Golf Club, host venue for this year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.!
Ballyliffin Golf Club (picture above)
To tee the week off in style, the company has organised an Irish Golf Day prior to the show on behalf of the Irish Golf Trade and in association with main sponsor Tourism Ireland, with over 100 golf tour operators, golf media, group leaders and Irish golf trade representatives signed up to take part at The Golden Bear Club at Keene's Point, Orlando.
In addition to meeting with a range of delegates to attract more visitors to Ireland, North & West Coast Links will also be using the show to launch its new brochure and website http://www.northandwestcoastlinks.com
As a key part of the Tourism Ireland stand, this is the 29th year in succession that North & West Coast Links has attended the show, promoting a range of bespoke golf tour packages to member courses including Royal Portrush, host venue for The Open in 2019, Ballyliffin, Carne, Enniscrone, Donegal, Narin & Portnoo, Rosapenna, Castlerock, Portstewart, Ardglass, Galway Bay, Westport and Portsalon.
In addition to the golf courses, the company also develops tour packages with a range of partner hotels including The Ardilaun, Mount Falcon Estate, Harvey’s Point, Ballyliffin Townhouse, The Bushmills Inn, the Hastings Hotels group and many more.
North and West Coast Links CEO John McLaughlin said: “The PGA Show is quite simply one of the most important industry events in the global golf calendar. This will be our 29th consecutive year attending the event which illustrates just how important it is to developing our business around the world.
“Ireland enjoys a special place on the global golf stage with some of the best courses in the world supported by a unique approach to hospitality which makes it very marketable to international visitors. The PGA Show provides us with an extremely valuable platform to meet industry representatives from over 100 countries,” he added.
“The increasing world profile of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in recent years at some of the links courses we represent, including this year’s event at Ballyliffin, provides us with a very attractive proposition from which to develop bespoke golf tour packages with some of Ireland’s outstanding links venues.
“Interest to date has been significant from the US and various European markets and with The Open being staged in Northern Ireland at Royal Portrush in 2019, links golf in this part of the world in really on the up,” concluded John.
Portrush (picture above)
The PGA Show runs from Tuesday January 23 to Friday January 26 at Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, and showcases the latest trends in golf with more than 1,000 interactive exhibits that cover a range of sectors including equipment, clothing, training, technology and gifts, as well as golf travel and tourism.
The Show is the first in a succession of shows over the next three months that will see North & West Coast Links promote Irish links golf in Germany, Toronto, Sweden, Denmark and Great Britain.
Over the course of 2018, North & West Coast Links will target the UK, US, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand and selected Asian Markets, taking part in over 30 International shows and events in its efforts to grow the valuable international golf visitor numbers to Ireland.
North & West Coast Links Golf Ireland is a Golf Marketing and Destination Management Company (DMC) that carries out a range of marketing activities for its member clubs on a cooperative marketing basis. The company has 29 years’ experience of promoting Irish links golf to golf tour operators and golf enthusiasts around the world.
PRESS RELEASE C/O
Michael Rafferty of Duffy Rafferty Communications on Belfast +44 (0) 28 9073 0880.
Picture (front): John McLaughlin (right), CEO of North and West Coast Links Golf Ireland, and John Farren (left), Manager of Ballyliffin Golf Club in Donegal, are pictured at last year’s PGA Show with former US Open Champion Graeme McDowell from Portrush in Northern Ireland.