A memorandum of understanding was signed today between the Ministry of Tourism, the Minister for Sport and Youth, and the Italian Golf Federation. The agreement, signed by Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanch, Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi, and President of the Italian Golf Federation Cristiano Cerchiai, aims to promote and develop golf tourism in Italy.
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The collaboration between the parties is aimed at encouraging the deseasonalization of tourist flows, the development of smaller destinations, increasing average visitor stays, and maximizing the economic impact of events and tournaments on the local area. Sports tourism, in fact, generates 10% of global tourism spending and is expected to grow by 17.5% between 2023 and 2030. This figure confirms the strong multiplier effect of investments: for every 1 million in public investments, 8 million in private investments are generated, and nearly 21 million in revenues are generated within the Sports System.
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"With the agreement signed," declared Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanch, "we intend to promote and develop golf tourism, fostering synergies between the golf ecosystem and the tourism sector, including through targeted actions and enhancing ENIT's role in promoting this segment. As the experience of the 2023 Ryder Cup demonstrates, organizing major sporting events generates a significant economic impact: over 513 million in direct and indirect effects. Golf tourism, as indicated in the Strategic Tourism Plan, is an extremely important asset, capable of attracting quality tourism, generating development, and creating value in local areas. The effort now is to build a shared strategic vision: we can no longer consider the individual golf course as an isolated element, but part of a system. We must team up, create a solid network between operators and institutions, overcoming fragmentation and a lack of dialogue between the various players in the sector. Not all stakeholders communicate with each other, and we are trying to change this paradigm. We consider golf tourism a priority," concluded the Minister. Not only because it represents a quality segment, but also for the multiplier effect it generates in the region, contributing to the growth of all sectors of the tourism industry." The agreement, which comes on the eve of the WTTC Global Summit, represents a significant enhancement of Italy's sporting heritage. The importance of golf is confirmed by international estimates, which predict a 6% annual growth rate for the global golf tourism market.
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"This protocol not only represents a further step in the promotion of sport and sports culture," stated Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, "but also of our regions, starting with the ability to increasingly harness the potential of golf tourism, especially international tourism. In this regard, one of the main objectives is to promote deseasonalization, also leveraging the legacy of the 2023 Ryder Cup, which demonstrated Italy's potential as a leading destination for millions of golf enthusiasts worldwide. The recent signing of this document expresses our shared desire to structure and organize a systematic collaboration that must generate measurable and communicateable facts and results, on the improvement and expansion of golf infrastructure, on collaboration between infrastructures, and on the increase in tourism related to this wonderful sport. In collaboration with the Ministry of Economy, we are developing a feasibility plan for the establishment of a golf real estate fund primarily dedicated to southern Italy, which we trust will be a strategic tool for implementing the protocol. The spirit of collaboration that "The commitment that distinguishes this Government is also being implemented, together with my colleague Santanch, in this project, for which I thank the Italian Golf Federation, in the knowledge that the impact we want to achieve goes far beyond the sporting dimension, and the goal is to contribute to widespread sustainable growth, starting with the local communities that need this development most," concludes Minister Abodi.
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"The signing of the protocol is evidence of the effective and concrete collaboration underway between the Minister of Tourism, the Minister for Sport and Youth, and our Federation," emphasizes the President of the Italian Golf Federation, Cristiano Cerchiai. "The development of golf tourism was one of the cornerstones of my election campaign, and today I am particularly proud of this agreement, the fruit of months of intense work. I promised that we would aim, as quickly as possible, to reach a programmatic agreement with the Italian Golf Federation.
