Punta Cana. Photo: Grupo Punta Cana.

By Frank Martin

In golf when a player hits the ball directly into the hole with just one stroke make an excellent “hole in one”.

The global golf tourism market could make its “hole in one” during 2021-2025 when according to experts will grow annually in spite of pandemic times.

The grow would show that despite a drop of 17.83%, this sport can become a magnificent recovery tool for the international tourism industry.

According to international experts global tourism market is already been driven by the worldwide growing attractive of golf  and  popularity of professional golf tournaments.

In addition to the gigantic golf market in the United States, Europe,  Latin America and the Caribbean have been also  registering a visible golf growth for some time now.

An admired golf destination in the Caribbean region is on in the Dominican Republic reanimated by the global reopening which continues despite the sudden appearance of the Omicron modality.

The Dominican Republic market  is a destination estimated as fabulous in terms of golf.

That country has been recognized as a 2019 Golf Destination in Latin America and the Caribbean and by the IAGTO Awards granted by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators.

The climate and landscape of the Caribbean are allies of this outdoor sport usually played in large areas.

According to figures immediately prior to the global pandemic, the Caribbean has more than 100 golf clubs and 1,150 exclusive hotels for athletes.

Another island that leads the potential of this sport in the area is Cuba.

Before world tourism stopped or slowed down for Covid-19 sake, Cubans had planned three projects with joint ventures for the development of golf in Cienfuegos, a city that Cubans call “pearl of the south.”

The multi-stage project were planning to includes the construction of a 450-room 5-star hotel with an 18-hole golf course, and some 450 villas and 1,150 apartments.

Also two more golf courses, new residential projects, and the development of real estate and hotel infrastructure with links to other tourist centers such as the northern keys of Villa Clara, Varadero and Havana were planned.

Cuba often invites golf lovers to international elite events such as the Great Cuba Golf Tournament with professional or amateur players over 18 years of age with certified handicaps.

Golf is a tourist modality with great potential in the Caribbean, according to experts consulted by TTC.

Golfers, including that with big names often visits the region Caribbean as tourists and as players specially from United States and Canada.

Golf has been played since the days of the Roman Empire.  Historians believe that a game similar to what is currently known as golf was practiced in Rome.

Many centuries later this sport it had a great boom in Scotland, from where it is said that it took its name.

After the pandemic and its negative results, it is time for this sport once considered aristocratic and for minorities to help the popular tourism industry to move again with the financial agility it requires.

FM