Planning luxury golf holidays in Portugal and Spain made easy

Have you ever thought about the possibility of playing golf and at the same time enjoying exuberant nature around the entire course? In the Azores this is more than possible, it is a reality!

The weather conditions in the Azores are favorable for golfing at any time of the year, thanks to the mild temperature, which, even in winter, usually offers pleasant days and a breathtaking green course.

There is a plethora of activities and sights to see on the islands besides golf, including the delicious local cuisine, scenic paths, natural wonders including volcanoes and lagoons, waterfalls, vineyards, boat rides, scuba diving, whale watching, and historic landmarks. Your next golf holidays in the Azores are going to be a unique experience.

The most notorious golf course in this stunning golf holiday destination is Batalha Golf Course. Different-sized fairways and greens, combined with the course's generally flat terrain, help to break up the monotony of a round of golf.

The Batalha Golf Course is also capable of combining the useful with the enjoyable, as in addition to practicing the sport, the player is surrounded by exuberant nature, with a view of the beautiful blue sea to the north and the great mountains to the south. It also has a Clubhouse, which has a bar and restaurant for players.

Furnas Golf Course, on the island of São Miguel, was the first course on the island and gives golfers a landscape full of features typical to the Azores, such as volcanism and abundant green vegetation; a perfect heaven for any golfer.

The most impressive thing is that the course is surrounded by majestic Japanese cedars and with turned greens, making the golf experience incredible, as it is located in one of the most beautiful areas of São Miguel, in Vale das Furnas, where the famous fountains are located. hot springs and the Terra Nostra Park, also close to the famous Lagoa das Furnas.

The third golf course in the Azores is the Terceira Golf Course. It is the only golf course on Terceira Island, close to Angra do Heroísmo. The highlight of this course is hole 18 (par 3), classified as the most difficult of the course, since the green, due to the steep slopes and lines that are very difficult to read, is protected by a lagoon. It is a challenging hole and requires a lot of skill from the player. Therefore, it is considered one of the most important golf clubs in Portugal.

According to Rita Marques, Portugal's Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce, and Services, July was the best month ever in terms of visitor arrivals and total nights spent in the country, a statistic that speaks to Portugal's growing international competitiveness.

The National Statistics Institute (INE) released preliminary estimates showing that tourist arrivals were up 6.3% in July and overnight stays were up 4.8%. These numbers compare to July 2019, the year before the pandemic, and show a significant increase in both categories (179.8 thousand more visitors and 397.2 thousand more overnight stays).

Despite "two very challenging years", Portugal is "once again standing out as one of the most competitive destinations internationally", Rita Marques said in a statement.

Rita Marques also highlighted that these figures show that the tourism sector is, today, again, an essential engine in the national economy.

INE estimates records 3,029,100 guests and 8,628,400 overnight stays in tourist accommodation in July, compared to 1,633,800 guests in July 2021 (85.4% more) and 4,538,600 overnight stays (90,1% more).

Of the total overnight stays, 2,906 were from residents, 9.1% more than in July 2021, and 5,722 from non-residents, translating to a year-on-year growth of 205.2%.

The share of overnight stays from non-residents, which was 41.3% in July 2021 rose to 66.3%, which Rita Marques considers translates as a "replacement of the natural structure of the Portuguese tourist market".

Golf has played a very important part in the tourism recovery of the country. Portugal is already a very famous holiday destination and is now becoming more popular as a golf destination as well, especially the sunny region of the Algarve, mostly with the golf crown jewels Vilamoura, Vale do Lobo, and Quinta do Lago.

Following a final day on the El Encin Golf course in Alcalá de Henares that was made more difficult by the wind, the Danish golfer Rasmus Lot was crowned champion of the XV Daikin Madrid Open of Adapted Golf of the Madrid Golf Federation.

As expected, Lot, one of the tournament favorites, won after scoring two rounds of 75 (150, +6 over par) and surpassing Swedish Johnny Granberg, who finished in second place with a score of 155. Besides that, Felipe Herránz shot a 164 and was named champion of Madrid.

"Every year, the number of golf enthusiasts in the Community of Madrid grows, and the stakes are raised with each test we host. This competition, which features some of the top disabled players in the world, is proof of that”, as stated by Ignacio Guerras, head of the Madrid Golf Federation.

Golf's ability to unite and include people of all ages and abilities in its sporting community was on display at the Daikin Madrid Open. More than a hundred of the world's greatest players with various impairments competed in the tournament.

To help recover the good statistics in Huelva, the Provincial Tourism Board of the Huelva Provincial Council, together with the Provincial Association of Golf Courses of Huelva have shown the magnificent offer offered by the destination, both aimed at the professional sector/specialized tour operator in the main European markets, as well as at the final customer, who seeks golf holidays.

In this sense, a new edition of the Huelva la Luz International Golf Trophy event has been held in Liverpool from July 5 to 7, framed in the Special Actions Agreement signed between the Huelva Provincial Tourist Board and the Public Company for Andalusian Tourism. Around 20 tour operators of 6 nationalities had the opportunity to hold meetings and commercial relations with all the Huelva golf offer that has participated in this event.

It is a direct action to present the destination of close public-private collaboration to a very specialized segment that offers the possibility of holding meetings during two very favorable days to approach commercial agreements for the next golf season, of vital importance for the Huelva destination (Costa de la Luz), that is flanked to the east and west by other well-established golf destinations.
The golf industry, like the rest of the tourism industry, has had a terrible time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, but signs of recovery are beginning to be seen in the flow of visitors, notably international golfers, which exhibits an evident feature of helping to deseasonalize.

Figures from previous years show that this is a key sector for tourism in the province of Huelva, generating employment, a high level of spending and a deseasonalizing element par excellence.

According to the golf occupancy data at the end of last May, taking as a reference occupancy data from the month of September 2021 - the start of the golf tour operation season - 176,586 green fees were sold.

Although facing the last half of the year, there is optimism on the part of the sector to be able to reach the volume of departures achieved in 2019, which represents a direct impact for the destination of just over 32.5 million euros, in addition to generating around 23% of the total overnight stays of the destination among all the segments.