Year-end* figures from Golfbreaks.com, Europe’s largest golf travel company, show a 13 per cent growth in customer numbers over the past 12 months. More than 165,000 golfers have been booked on holidays and short breaks over the past year – a record number for the Windsor, Berkshire, business.
The average group size has risen to 6.3 golfers per trip, which translates to nearly 20,000 more golfers travelling with Golfbreaks.com over the past 12 months.
While the domestic market is dominant for Golfbreaks.com, accounting for nearly 75 per cent of its total bookings, the volume of breaks toEuropeand the rest of the world also showed a substantial increase.
Andrew Stanley, Chief Executive of Golfbreaks.com, said: “While traditional golf travel destinations such asSpain,PortugalandFrancehave continued to show growth there has been a marked rise in interest for emerging locations such as Cyprus and Morocco. In fact bookings toCyprusare up 47 per cent on last year.
Sister companies, Teeofftimes.co.uk and BookaSpa.com, are also reporting respectable figures in their fourth and first years respectively. Teeofftimes.co.uk has nearly doubled the number of golf clubs receiving bookings from golfers in 2011 compared with 2010, and BookaSpa.com will book more than 10,000 guests in year one.
A further statistic released by the Golfbreaks.com Group indicates a high level of customer loyalty to the brands as more than 50 per cent of the bookings made at Golfbreaks.com and 60 per cent of those at Teeofftimes.co.uk were from existing clients.
Stanley added: “Receiving repeat business from our customers is a primary objective for us as this indicates that our golf and spa travel packages and our last-minute tee time offerings presents golfers an experience they are more than satisfied with.
“In a recessionary market, consumers are searching, more than ever, for the best deals and in terms of golf travel, this is precisely what we offer.”
Golfbreaks.com offers more than 950 venues to play golf in the UK,Europe and further afield and is one of the golf travel industry’s most innovative companies, offering a Price Promise guarantee on all bookings. It is also ABTA-bonded to protect its customers, is the official supplier to the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) and a member of IAGTO, the International Association of Golf Tour Operators.
*Golfbreaks.com financial year ends 31 October