Cruisebestemmingen trekken minder Belgische reizigers

Het voorbije jaar hebben 65.000 Belgische toeristen voor een cruisevakantie geopteerd. Dat betekende een daling met ongeveer 10 procent tegenover het jaar voordien. Dat is gebleken uit cijfers van sectororganisatie Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).

Vastgesteld werd dat op alle bestemmingen een achteruitgang diende te worden opgetekend. De Middellandse Zee en Zwarte Zee blijven voor de Belgische cruisetoerist wel de belangrijkste bestemming, gevolgd door Scandinavië. Op de derde plaats staan Bermuda en de Caraïben.

De daling bij het Belgische cruisetoerisme gaat wel in tegen de Europese trend, waar een nieuw recordjaar kon worden gemeld.

Promotie

Het voorbije jaar kozen 33.000 Belgische toeristen voor een cruisevakantie in het gebied van de Middellandse Zee of de Zwarte Zee. Dat betekende een daling met 12 procent tegenover het jaar voordien.

© Aangeboden door Express.be

In Noord-Europa diende zelfs een achteruitgang met 30 procent tot ongeveer 12.000 reizigers te worden gemeld. Daarbij wordt wel opgemerkt dat Scandinavië grote promotie-inspanningen had gedaan om zich als een boeiende cruisebestemming te manifesteren.

Bij de cruises naar Bermuda en de Caraïben diende een achteruitgang met 10 procent tot 7.000 toeristen te worden geregistreerd.

Op Europees niveau boekte het cruisetoerisme een stijging met 3 procent tot een record van 6,59 miljoen reizigers.

Sophie Leten elected new President of the PGA of Belgium

With the end of the 5-year term as President of the Board of Directors in sight, Philippe Vanderstricht will not be up for re-election at the next AGM of April 2016.  His newly extended duties at (Royal) Limburg GCC take up too much of his time to meet the level of efficiency he always set forth.

The Board of Directors has recently met to elect a new President according to the Constitution procedures, and has unanimously elected Sophie Leten for the coming term 2016-2018. 

Message from the next President of the Professional Golfers’ Association of Belgium

                                                                                                                                       

"Dear Stakeholders,

After being Board Member since 2012 I now had the honor of being elected as next President of the Board of Directors at the PGA of Belgium. I enjoyed seeing the evolution the PGA has made since I became a teaching pro.

Firstly, I would like to thank Philippe Vanderstricht, whom I succeed, for his excellent work at the PGA together with our very efficient and professional CEO Bernard De Bruyckere and the dynamic Board of Directors team.  Also a big thanks to the President of the Board of Governors Luc Opdebeeck and his team. 

After obtaining a bachelor degree in Physical Education in Belgium I worked for a year at a golf wholesaler. Then I started my PGA education in 1995 at The Belfry in the UK. Nowadays we have an excellent education program in Belgium.

The Belgian PGA Education Program is recognized internationally for its educational quality. The three-level program covers a wide range of subjects relevant to a career as a PGA Professional and tests individual knowledge and skills through rigorous assessment.

As PGA we are dedicated to the continued education of our PGA members through innovative training programs. Our members are advised on equipment, national training, mental coaching, interclub team building, course management and travel to sunny locations…

The PGA of Belgium greatly values the support of our partners in helping us, a nonprofit organization, to further develop the quality of the golf sport in Belgium. You can see their names on our website www.pga.be. 

We also continue to work closely with the Belgian national and regional Golf Federations, the RBGF, VVG and AFG.

To finish, I would like to point your attention to the fact that golf became an Olympic Sport at the end of the Olympic Presidency of Jacques Rogge.  A further recognition to the continued evolution of our great sport.

I look forward to meet you at our PGA events.

Yours sincerely,

Sophie Leten "

NICE ‘N’ EASY DOES IT: GREAT GOLF NOW FEELS CLOSER THAN EVER IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

 For golfers who like to spend as much of their vacation time as possible on the fairways, enjoying different experiences and a variety of courses, the Caribbean’s most spectacular golf destination is easier than ever to get to and to get around.

Thanks to clear highways and the close proximity of courses in the Bávaro, Punta Cana and Cap Cana areas on the country’s east coast, golfers who are serious about their game can play a different course every day with ease. These three areas, which together offer 10 courses, are all within a half-hour’s drive of each other.

Even the Dominican Republic’s golf destinations feel much closer together than they did a few years back. Most notably, golfers staying in Punta Cana may be surprised to learn that they can reach the trio of Pete Dye courses –open to visitors – at Casa de Campo within 45 minutes, and vice versa. The scenic journey from Santo Domingo to La Romana on the aptly named Coral Highway is now a cool 90-minute drive, with Gary Player’s challenging Guavaberry Golf Club and the Los Marlins Golf Course at neighboring Metro Country Club, conveniently located at the half way point near the beach resort of Juan Dolio.

Getting to the Dominican Republic is just as easy. Served by eight international gateways, every golf course is within easy reach so golfers will have no problem getting in a round of golf both on the day they arrive and the day they leave, flight times permitting.

With Grupo Puntacana owning Punta Cana International Airport – which has direct service from over 28 countries and 96 cities around the world, including U.S. gateways such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington, Dallas and Houston – and the runways just minutes from Puntacana Resort’s two courses, golfing visitors will find the process of arrivals and departures quick and painless. Golfers can be on the first tee of its La Cana or Corales courses within half an hour of landing.

Getting a round in on arrival day is just as easy for golfers staying in nearby tourist areas and playing other golf courses. The Higuey-Miches Highway runs from Punta Cana’s airport and passes right by courses including the Lakes Barceló Golf Course, Cocotal Golf & Country Club, Iberostate Bávaro Golf Club, Punta Blanca Golf Club and the Hard Rock Golf Club at Cana Bay, with their adjacent hotels, giving a journey time of less than 30 minutes from terminal to resort. Similarly, a late afternoon or evening flight home allows golfers to play 18 holes and freshen up with a shower in the clubhouse or back in their room before checking in at the airport.

La Romana has an airport with international flights just minutes from Casa de Campo and its golf courses, while Santo Domingo’s airport has several courses close by as well as a half-hour drive away from Juan Dolio. On the Atlantic coast, Puerto Plata’s airport is nearby to Playa Dorada Golf Course and just 90 minutes from the recently reopened Playa Grande Golf Course, at Rio San Juan.

Altogether, 18 of the destination’s most popular tourist-friendly golf courses are clustered together in coastal holiday resorts with hotels on site or nearby. New roads have also dramatically reduced travel times between key resorts as well as with the capital, Santo Domingo, allowing golfers to comfortably play courses in different areas without having to change hotels.

Dominican Republic presents a high-end offer for golf players, with exclusive courses of intriguing designs. The perfect scenario closes the deal by the fact that no golf destination is too far away from each other for it be enjoyed in one day, making the country in the place to be for a magical-one of kind golf experience.

Gastro Golf Launches with a Unique Golf Holiday Concept

New golf travel company, Gastro Golf, offers golfers with a passion for stunning courses and exceptional international food and wine, the opportunity to book their most memorable ever-golfing holiday.

The Cheshire-based specialist tour operator, a member of IAGTO, provides golf holidays with a “gastronomic twist” - combining the opportunity to play on some of the world's finest courses with traditional culinary & cultural experiences not to be missed.

Gastro Golf's tailor-made holidays are perfect for those who want to expand their overall golfing experience with friends and family by sampling the best local food & wines found in destinations such as, the Algarve, Lisbon & Porto in Portugal the Costa Brava, Costa Dorada & Barcelona regions of Catalonia as well as other golf & gastronomically rich regions of France, Italy, Spain & Portugal.

Said founder, John Sullivan, who has spent most of his working career in the hospitality industry: "Gastro Golf combines all the right ingredients for a truly memorable holiday including personal service both here in the UK and in the destination. Great locations, first class accommodation & the chance to relax & enjoy good golf, food, wine & traditional culture is what we are all about.

"Our aim is to make our customers' golfing experience truly memorable and stand out from the rest of the golf holidays on offer. We work directly with an increasing number of carefully selected regional specialists in golf tourism in each destination. Jointly this enables us to select the right accommodation, golf courses, restaurants and food & wine producers which when packaged together, create a truly unique golf experience.

Gastro Golf can build any combination of golf holiday their clients require, at the same time providing off the shelf packages and the opportunity for guests to play in Open amateur & pro-am events throughout Europe. In 2016 Gastro Golf will be including a number of featured Gastro Golf Tours some of which will include PGA professional coaching or tournaments.

Added John ”Our clients are golfers of all ages and abilities, who want to explore the culturally rich and diverse countries they love to play in. The pleasure derived from relaxing & enjoying the best in locally produced food and wine in a wonderful location after a great day on the course is what we know and creates a real point of difference in a Gastro Golf Holiday. Our holidays are ideally suited for individuals, groups and corporate clients.

Fairways to heaven: Morocco’s uncrowded courses make for blissful golf year-round

Winter, spring, summer and autumn – whatever time of year, one of the joys of playing golf in Morocco is that you can enjoy its fairways without the crowds.

Boasting more than 300 sunny days a year and the closest guaranteed winter sun destination to Europe, at less than three hours away by air from most capital cities, it offers golfing visitors the chance to tee off in balmy temperatures and under vivid blue skies when their home courses are under snow or being buffeted by winter gales.

Morocco is a true four-season golf destination. Cooling winds blowing off the Atlantic and Mediterranean make for enjoyable, year-round weather for golf in coastal golfing resorts such as Agadir, Essaouira or El Jadida, while in inland destinations Marrakech, Fez and Meknes, you can comfortably play golf from early autumn until late spring and golf is even possible in summer. Choose the right time to go and you can be teeing off not only in balmy conditions but also on courses with few other golfers and at tee times of your choosing.

Marrakech makes a very enticing base for a winter golf holiday. Morocco’s prime golf hub with more than a dozen courses close to the city centre and others due to open soon, its fairways are always far less crowded than those of other winter sun destinations. It can be even more alluring at other times of the year.

While October to April is when most European golfers pack their clubs and head to Marrakech for a golf break, it is not all high season then. There are some periods, known as the shoulder season, when the courses are much quieter. At certain times, and particularly in summer, golfers may well have the course to themselves.

Morocco’s value is another attraction for golfers, green fees typically ranging between around 50 and 75 euros. Outside of peak months, some courses offer green fees almost 50% less than peak rates with wide-open tee times available. Playing later in the day when most golfers have finished their rounds can also bring green fees down, even during the main golfing season.

It’s worth checking when golf clubs are less busy. The peak months for Noria Golf Club, in Marrakech, are October, November, February and March, with December, January and April classed as the shoulder season. Play after 1pm and the green fees drop significantly. The biggest bargains are in the low season, from May to September, when golf tour operators are able to offer clients green fees at nearly half the peak rate.

At Assoufid Golf Club, also in Marrakech, the quietest time on the course is in the afternoons of shoulder season months December, January, May, June and September, when temperatures average a pleasant 20-25C but can reach 30-35C on some days, as well as in the low season – July and August – when temperatures are typically around 30C, with lows of 20C in the early morning and highs that can reach 38C.

The city’s longest-established club, Royal Golf Marrakech, is unique in that its fairways are lined by 15,000 mature trees – allowing golfers shade from the sun. Its high season runs from October to the end of May and most golfers play the course between 7am and 11am or from 5pm until dusk. June to September is the club’s low season; fewer golfers play then but those who do can enjoy rounds for about 60% of the standard green fee. The club also has a newer nine-hole course that is floodlit so that golfers can play at night, although it is generally reserved for corporate events then.

Agadir’s average daily high temperature changes little throughout the year, ranging from 20C in January to 26C in July and August. The golf season runs from November until April at the latest. By May the fairways of its four courses are virtually empty, as they are in early autumn, yet the destination enjoys superb weather then and hotels are not crowded in what are the destination’s shoulder periods.

Summer is when most holidaymakers flock to Agadir, to soak up the sun on its wide beaches and enjoy the pleasantly-cooling sea breezes. For golfers heading to Agadir in the summer, courses are often devoid of other players. Long-stay winter visitors and ex-pat residents from Northern Europe make up the bulk of club members and regular players on Agadir’s fairways as few Moroccans play golf, and by late spring most have returned home or have stopped playing.

Atlantic breezes mean golf can be played year-round in Essaouira. Its climate is similar to that of San Francisco, with an average temperature change of just 4C between summer (22C) and winter (18C).

Peak season for the resort’s Gary Player-designed Golf de Mogador course is from mid-February until the end of March and from the beginning of October to the end of November. Green fees stay the same all year, but the course is quietest from the end of January until mid-February, during June and September and in early December.

During the summer months, most golfers typically play only nine holes at Golf de Mogador and they generally use a buggy, while during the rest of the year they usually play 18 holes and walk, with a caddy. The weather is also often windy during summer months, making that part of the Morocco coast one of the most popular surfing and kitesurfing areas in Europe. Some visitors combine playing golf and surfing or kitesurfing during their holiday, meaning the fairways are even less busy for dedicated golfers.

Located in El Jadida, close to Morocco’s main airport hub of Casablanca, Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort lies in a green, temperate coastal belt. The climate is very similar to that of Essaouira, with mild winters and summers that are not too hot.

Golfers visit to stay at its on-site resort hotel and play on its signature Gary Player course all year. However, the peak times for golf – March-April and October-November, when the weather in Europe can be unreliable – often coincide with the quietest periods for the hotel so golfers can enjoy great deals, such as unlimited golf or all-inclusive packages including accommodation if they book via golf tour operators. The resort also limits the number of members of its golf club, to ensure there is a lot of tee time availability for hotel guests. 

With year-round golf, great value and uncrowded fairways, what’s not to love about golf in Morocco?

Contact:

Fahd KARRAKCHOU

IL CIRCUITO SULLA VIA DEI GOLF DELL’ACQUA

Golf Region Lake Garda – a leading golf tourism destination in Europe – it combines love for golfing while discovering the Lake Garda territory featuring history, culture, beautiful natural surroundings, food and wine specialties. Appreciate playing golf 12-months around, thanks to the mild Lake Garda climate! Beautiful golf courses projected by legendary players and designers among the most famous in the world. Through Golf Region Lake Garda, enjoy the charm of a stunning Italian Region, rich in cities of art, historic villages, entertainment and social life: choose your golf holiday.

Golf’s Caribbean Queen, Dominican Republic Wows Golfers With 86 Ocean View Holes

With seven golf courses offering 86 holes on or overlooking the ocean, the Dominican Republic truly is golf’s Caribbean queen.

Exhibiting at the annual PGA Show in Orlando just two months after the reopening of the iconic, cliff-top Playa Grande Golf Course – the penultimate design by the great Robert Trent Jones Sr., now remodeled by his son, Rees Jones – at Río San Juan, the tropical nation boasts more golf holes with a sea view than any other Caribbean destination.

What’s more, 37 golf holes are directly on either the Caribbean Sea or Atlantic Ocean, meaning golfers enjoy an unrivaled experience playing alongside azure-blue waters or crashing waves.

Dubbed the “Pebble Beach of the Caribbean” for its dramatic layout, every one of Playa Grande’s 18 holes offers stirring views of the Atlantic Ocean, more than half of them playing right along the edge of 100-foot sea cliffs. Its reopening, following a redesign of six of the course’s back nine holes to accommodate the new Amanera Resort hotel on the cliff edge, has resulted in the final five holes being routed along the cliffs parallel to the ocean. This takes the country’s total of ocean view holes from 68 to 86, while the number of holes alongside the sea has gone up from the previous 27.

                                                                            

Keep your eyes peeled while playing Playa Grande, too. When you are not sizing up your putts looking for birdies, cast your gaze seawards and you might spot a passing humpback whale – thousands of them migrate to Samaná Bay, to the northeast, to mate and calve from mid-January to mid-March each year. You can also sometimes see them from other courses including Corales and Punta Espada, by the country’s easternmost tip.

Corales and Punta Espada are among five other golf courses around the Dominican Republic’s coastline with oceanside holes. Eight holes of the Jack Nicklaus-designed Punta Espada course play next to the sea, while 13 of its 18 holes have ocean views. Not only that, Punta Espada is this month celebrating its retention, for the eight consecutive year, of the #1 golf course ranking in GolfWeek’s Best of the Caribbean & Mexico list.

A Tom Fazio design, Corales boasts one of golf’s most magnificent finishes, the last three holes being called the Devil’s Elbow and culminating in a striking, U-shaped 18th that plays around a narrow, bluff-edged bay. Its 18 holes include 12 with sea views and four on the ocean. Of neighboring La Cana’s 27 holes, golfers can see the ocean from 14, with four also playing right by the water, including the closing two holes of its Arrecife course.

 in 1971 and renovated in 2005, Teeth of the Dog is one of four Pete Dye’s designs at the Casa de Campo resort at La Romana on the southeast coast, and was the first Dominican Republic course to use the sea to dramatic effect, putting it on the global golfing map. Its name derives from the jagged rock formations jutting into the Caribbean on which Dye placed tees and greens. Three of its four par-3 holes play over waves to the greens. In total, it has seven holes next to the sea and 11 with ocean views. Sister course Dye Fore, partly set on cliffs skirting the Chavón River valley, has 13 holes with Caribbean views.

In the far north, Playa Dorada Golf Club in Puerto Plata is another Trent Jones design that has four holes set right by the Atlantic and five in all with ocean views.

You can also drink in the Dominican Republic’s glorious seascapes while sipping local specialties after a long and hard-fought round with your golfing buddies, chilling out with a drink at the 19th hole. The country has some great 19^th hole locations to help you relax, nowhere more so than La Cana’s grand Golf & Beach Club, magnificently positioned overlooking a white-sand beach and the blue Caribbean. The clubhouse bars of Punta Espada and Corales also offer great beach and sea views.

If you prefer a change of scenery, try one of the 12 courses perfectly set up for visiting golfers inland. They include The Lakes Barceló Golf Course, with 25 lakes set within a mangrove forest, the Nicklaus Design layout at the Hard Rock Golf Club at Cana Bay, where pink flamingos resident on a lake by the 18^th green add a splash of color, and the Gary Player-designed Guavaberry Golf & Country Club course, 30 minutes from capital Santo Domingo’s airport, bordering a tropical forest and nature preserve and lined by stately Corozo palm trees. Several have island greens for those who really don’t want to get away from water!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

The Dominican Republic has garnered lots of interest at the PGA Show. Wendy Justo, Dominican Republic Tourism Board Supervisor for the US & Puerto Rico, said: “The response from Club Pros from across the U.S. here at the PGA Show has been tremendous. They were already pretty familiar with the excellent reputation that our golf clubs have for looking after Golf Pros and their groups, but they were definitely blown away by the fact that there are now 86 holes of golf overlooking the sea for their club members to enjoy! We are planning to get the message across to club members all over the States that the Dominican Republic now needs to be on every avid golfers’ bucket list!”

BVK Public Relations for DR Ministry of Tourism

Annie Holschuh, US PR Director