Gran Canaria’s Faro de Maspalomas lighthouse formed the stunning backdrop to the 25th IAGTO Awards ceremony staged by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators in front of more than 800 IAGTO members.
The honours were led by Gran Canaria and the Costa del Sol, with golf resorts, golf courses, hotels and destination management companies in England, France, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Ireland and Spain’s Mallorca and Sotogrande also recognised.
Gran Canaria was honoured for its Outstanding Contribution to Golf Tourism for hosting the third IAGTO European Convention and for facilitating the largest and most productive gathering of IAGTO members to date.
Costa del Sol in Spain’s autonomous Andalucia region was voted Golf Destination of the Year by IAGTO’s golf tour operators, who are responsible for more than 90% of international golf vacation packages sold worldwide.
The IAGTO Awards ceremony was the climax of an open-air gala dinner for IEC delegates in the impressive setting of the Plaza del Faro Maspalomas and followed a dazzling audio-visual light show beamed onto the lighthouse.
Presenting the awards, IAGTO’s Chief Executive, Peter Walton, said: “For 25 years we have been platforming those destinations, golf resorts, golf courses, hotels and golf tourism suppliers that have delivered the best experience for visiting golf travellers over the past 12 months, as voted for by the world’s leading golf tour operators. We only issue a handful of awards each year, which lends added weight to the value of this accolade for all recipients.”
The winners for the European section of the IAGTO Awards are:
Golf Destination of the Year
COSTA DEL SOL
Golf Resorts of the Year
ARABELLA GOLF RESORT MALLORCA, SPAIN
CARDEN PARK, ENGLAND
EVIAN RESORT, FRANCE
SO/SOTOGRANDE SPA & GOLF RESORT HOTEL, SPAIN
Golf Course of the Year
CULLINAN LINKS GOLF CLUB, TURKEY
DMCs (Destination Management Companies) of the Year
GOLF AROUND ITALY, ITALY
INGOLF TOUR OPERATOR, PORTUGAL
Hotel of the Year
THE KILLARNEY PARK, IRELAND
Outstanding Contribution to Golf Tourism
GRAN CANARIA
SALOBRE HOTEL RESORT & SERENITY
SALOBRE GOLF
LOPESAN HOTELS GRAN CANARIA
MELONERAS GOLF BY LOPESAN
ANFI GOLF BY LOPESAN
MASPALOMAS GOLF
REAL CLUB DE GOLF DE LAS PALMAS