Press release -
World’s top women golfers put tee in Trump Turnberry
The only ladies’ golf Major to be played in the UK tees off today (Thursday 30 July), bringing an estimated 30,000 golf fans to Ayrshire.
Held at Trump Turnberry, The RICOH Women’s British Open, continues Scotland’s spectacular summer of major international golfing events.
Played in Scotland every second year following an agreement between VisitScotland and the event organisers IMG, the tournament is predicted to boost the country’s economy by over £13.5m.
As well as delivering significant economic benefit, the national tourism organisation hopes the event will also entice more female golfers to Scotland’s world-famous courses.
Home to more courses per head of population than anywhere else in the world, golf tourism is estimated to be worth £220million to the Scottish economy and supports around 4,400 jobs. For every £1 a visiting golfer spends on green fees, a further £5 is spent on extras such as food & drink and entertainment.
Mike Cantlay OBE, Chairman of VisitScotland said:
“2015 is an incredible year for golf in Scotland as we cement our reputation as the “Home of Golf”. All across the world golf fans are tuning in to watch some of the biggest events in the sport and at the same time enjoying stunning images of areas like Ayrshire and Arran, where our double-header of major women’s events is being played.
“This exposure is vital if we want to maintain global interest in Scotland’s golf offering and encourage enthusiasts, both men and woman, to make Scotland their number one choice for a golf break.”
The RICOH Women’s British Open was first played in Scotland in 2002 at Turnberry and since then has been played at St Andrews, in 2007 and 2013, and at Carnoustie, in 2011. The venue for the 2017 RICOH Women’s British Open has been confirmed as Kingsbarns Golf Links (the first Major Championship to be hosted there). The 2015 event will be the last Major competition played on the Ailsa course at Trump Turnberry before it undergoes a redesign.This is part of a multi-million pound refurbishment project being undertaken by The Trump Organization to upgrade and enhance all aspects of the Resort including the course, clubhouse, hotel and spa.
Javier Diez-Aguirre, Vice President, Corporate Marketing, Ricoh Europe Plcof Ricoh said:“The RICOH Women’s British Open has grown to become a real highlight of the international golf calendar across both the women’s and men’s game, and we are very proud of how much it has achieved to promote women’s golf both here in the UK and internationally. We look forward to welcoming everyone this week and hope that as many people as possible will come to experience and enjoy watching the world’s finest female professionals test their skills at this unique, stunning championship venue.”
The RICOH Women’s British Open, which is supported by VisitScotland, is the latest in a series of nine top-class golf events taking place this year across the country and are expected to attract more than 300,000 spectators.Following the success of what what is regarded as the “best-ever” Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in 2014, the national tourism organisation has continued to support golf tourism - which is worth an estimated £220m to the economy and supports around 4,400 jobs.VisitScotland is investing a total of just over £2 million into eight professional golf events in 2015.
Scotland’s spectacular ‘summer of golf’ teed off in June at the SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge at Spey Valley Golf Club, Aviemore.The programme has included The Scottish Open at Gullane, The Open Championship at St Andrews and most recently The Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open at Dundonald Links.
To find out more about Scotland’s spectacular summer of golf, please visit :
For further information contact:
David Connor
Golf PR Manager
0131 472 2063
07794 046295
david.connor@visitscotland.com
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- sportstourism
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
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- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, the tourism economy supports 270,000 jobs in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the tourism economy contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
Year of Food and Drink 2015- 2015 is the Year of Food and Drink, a celebration of Scotland’s natural larder and the role that food and drink plays in shaping our economic success.
- Scotland generates over £2.5m per day through food and drink tourism.
- A series of themed months will create an appetite for key areas of Scotland’s food and drink industries – from seafood and whisky to berries and high-quality meat
- For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/tastescotland
