Fota Island is basking in the sunshine this morning as it puts the finishing touches to doing the same in the glow of worldwide publicity.
The Irish Open will be broadcast to over 200 countries around the world when it gets underway in Cork tomorrow morning and advance sales suggest it will do so in front of a bumper audience.
“Advance ticket sales are around 20% ahead of where we targeted,” Fota Marketing Director Seamus Leahy told Sport for Business last night.
“The weather and the overwhelming local buzz around the event means that we are well set for a big crowd over the four days.”
Stellar
“With such a stellar lime up of Irish and international golfing talent out on the course we will be drawing people from across the island of Ireland and from overseas.”
“Hosting the Open Championship has already given a significant lift to our rest of the year business as well with numbers up significantly from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.”
“We are not on the highlights map for US golfers coming to Ireland because we are not a links course but numbers from across the Atlantic are climbing as well and the comments from the players so far this week are the greatest testimonial you could hope for.”
Leahy and Fota, as well as the big roster of corporate sponsors will be hoping for a strong showing from Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Shane Lowry and Paul McGinley, especially after they failed to shine at Carton House last year.
Boost
“Getting the local heroes into contention on the weekend would be another huge boost but the local crowds could hardly be more enthusiastic anyway,” added Leahy.
Fota Island Resort was purchased by the Kang Family, major Chinese investors in September last year and interest from Asia has also been lifted with an announcement on future plans from that region expected next week after the Open.
Together with Donald Trump’s purchase of Doonbeg, it means that Irish golf is attracting some of the heaviest hitters in the international sporting and business communities. The sport is well set to benefit more than most from an upturn in the global economy and a return to higher levels of tourism spending.
That alone will serve to justify Fáilte Ireland’s continued presence as the lead sponsor of the event. Golf tourism rose last year to 204,000 according to Failte Ireland figures and tourists taking to the fairways spend an average two and a half times more than other groups making them a valuable group that Ireland caters for very well.
Cork County Council, the Irish Examiner, BAM and West Coast have come on board this year in addition to longer term supporters of the event in Emirates, BMW and Heineken.
