TOURISM stakeholders have high hopes of Fiji’s growing potential in golf tourism.

“It’s actually a very lucrative, emerging tourism market for us, for golf tourists to come here and spend a whole lot more money,” noted Tourism Minister, Faiyaz Koya at the Fijian Tourism Expo in Nadi this week.

The Government has pumped about $8.6 million into a five-year agreement earlier signed with the PGA of Australia to host Fiji International tournaments, which is expected to leverage Fiji’s appeal to markets, particularly those that traditionally, only view Fiji as a holiday destination.

“Everybody knows that golf tourism is one of the fastest growing markets in the world at the moment,” said Fiji International’s event manager, Harmony Thomas.

“A golfer spends an average of about $3000 every trip that they make, in comparison to a non-golfer, which is about three times because of the lifestyle that they live and the accommodation that they require.

“So for every one, normal tourist that comes in, you need to bring in three of them to match one golfer.

“From going to the Asian Tourism Golf Convention earlier this year, the feedback from all the buyers, and specific golf buyers, was that they were surprised that golf was now available in Fiji and they thought it was a great product to sell.”

She said that while revenue for Fiji’s golf tourism was not quantifiable yet, large returns were expected at the end of this year and the following years.

“In Asia, we’re not seen as a golf destination, we’re seen as an exotic, niche, sun and sand destination and Fiji offers so much more,” added Otto Gergeye, the executive general manager of sales and marketing for Fiji Airways, which has signed on as the official airline for this year’s Fiji International.

“So for us, it’s very advantageous that our potential visitors know what’s on offer and golf tourism is actually a sector for people to get on a plane and go play golf, and that will attract a lot of tourists,” he said.