The game of golf is a multi-billion euro enterprise now worth more than €50 billion a year in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMA region), according to a pioneering study from KPMG Golf Advisory Practice. KPMG’s Andrea Sartori presented the findings of the study at the European Golf Business Conference 2008, last November in Berlin, where members of the European Golf Course Owners Association (EGCOA) gathered.
The report has been compiled with the full support of the European Golf Course Owners Association (EGCOA) and 8 other key bodies from across the golf industry and the professional game. Golf in the EMA region generates total revenues of €53 billion, supports almost half a million jobs and pays nearly €10 billion in wages. While golf in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMA) region is about one-third the size of the US golf industry, it is growing fast, especially in terms of golf related tourism and real estate. The report reveals that in Europe alone, the number of both courses and players has doubled since 1985, whereas in the US, the number of courses and players has levelled off since 2000.
In 2006, more than 160 new golf courses and almost 100 major course expansion projects were underway in the EMA region. When considering investment in renovations and improvements of golf facilities, the revenue generated by these capital projects was €4 billion – almost two-thirds of that generated in the (much larger) US golf economy. Revenue raised directly from golf courses (green fees, memberships etc) totalled €7 billion in Europe, compared with approximately €23 billion in the US.
“The cooperation of nine golf industry bodies plus KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice with our own study was a logical step to strengthen our own goal of measuring the value of the golf industry. It represents a unique coming-together of the golf community.” says Lodewijk Klootwijk, CEO of the European Golf Course Owners Association representing the golf bodies.
“This wide-ranging and ambitious study comes at a time when the game is booming in the EMA region, with burgeoning growth in golf tourism and real estate, the near-global expansion of the European Tour, and big investment in emerging markets such as the Middle East and Eastern Europe”, says Andrea Sartori, head of KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice.
The study, titled The Value of Golf to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, was produced in association with Oxford Economics. The following organizations are supporting the study: Golf Environment Europe, the R&A, Club Managers Association of Europe, PGAs of Europe, the European Tour, the European Golf Industry Association, the European Institute of Golf Course Architects, the Federation of European Greenkeepers Association and the European Golf Course Owners Association.
The study is now available to download, free of charge, from www.golfbenchmark.com
For further information contact the EGCOA, Lodewijk Klootwijk lk@egcoa.eu or +31.20.33.06.103.
