To promote the golf sector in the municipality, and provide a leap in quality and promotion to this sports segment that attracts the winter tourist and helps to break seasonality, maintaining the jobs linked to this sector 365 days a year. This is the objective of the Golf Marketing Plan that, for a few months, has been drawn up by the Mijas Local Council in collaboration with the University of Malaga. Following the recommendations of the Strategic Tourism Plan, the government team wants to take advantage of the “exceptional” golf courses that the municipality has, as well as the “benefits” of the climate to develop its own internationally recognizable golf brand. On Friday 16th, municipal and UMA representatives met with businesspersons from the sector in Mijas to report on the status of this plan, which is expected to be ready before the end of the year. “It is essential to listen to the voice of the people who are there on a day-to-day basis and who know first-hand the reality of this segment”, explained the councillor for Tourism, José Carlos Martín (C’s), who stressed that “after the pandemic, golf becomes one of the strongest tourist attractions because it is practiced outdoors and it is easier to maintain safe distances”. For his part, the councillor for Sports, Andrés Ruiz (C’s), valued “the importance of sports tourism in Mijas and, especially golf, which being in full contact with nature offers greater guarantees when it comes to avoiding contagion”.The councillor for Podemos, Remedios Leiva, also attended the meeting, and highlighted “the problem we have with so many golf courses in our municipality because we live in an almost desert climate and we have many water problems with the overcrowding of the population, among other issues”.

 

Travel after the pandemic - A new model for tourism

Both the Local Government and the businesspersons have drawn up a roadmap to continue holding regular meetings and developing the Golf Marketing Plan, with professionals in the sector being the main source of information for the drafting team. The plan provides a new option already adapted to the new circumstances that are occurring globally as a result of the health crisis. “Tourism is not going to be the same when the door to travel opens. Available incomes will change, tastes and formulas, among others, so it is very important to be prepared for the segments that we will have to address and offer a new proposal and a change in the marketing of the entire structure”, he pointed out. the dean of the Faculty for Tourism of the UMA (Malaga University), Antonio Guevara. For his part, the president of the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation, Pablo Mansilla, stressed that “Mijas is one of the four most important municipalities in Andalusia as regards the practice of this sport”.

 

Source: Mijas Semanal