Golf tourism: Is this an untapped revenue stream for the KZN North Coast?

The recent glowing review on North Coast golf courses written by Norwegian golf journalist Louis Roren, highlighted the region’s potential to be a world class golfing destination.

This underlined the efforts of Golf KZN’s Mike McNamara, who has been trying to grow and drive the North Coast as a golf tourism hot spot for the past three years.

“Ballito has become a hub for golf tourism because we are so close to the King Shaka International Airport.

“Coupled with our exquisite golf estates, the potential for golf on the North Coast is vast and increasing with new developments such as Zimbali Lakes, and Blythedale being a more long-term growth point.”

He said their mission was to make golfing in KZN affordable and as easy as possible.

“We have preset all-inclusive packages which can be tailored to your budget and desires so that when the tourists arrive, all they have to do is play golf and drink beer.”

According to the KZN Golf Union, there are 72 golf courses in the province, of which McNamara said about 20 are tourist ready.

Also read: Four of the best golf courses on the Dolphin Coast

Golf KZN’s recommended North Coast golf courses are Simbithi Country Club, Prince’s Grant Golf Estate, Umhlali Country Club and Zimbali Country Club.

They often include courses further south, such as the grand old lady of golf – Durban Country Club – and go as far as the Drakensberg’s courses such as Champagne Sports Resort.

“We need to encourage clubs to make guests feel at home. The friendlier we make golf, the better.”

Furthermore, he said golf needs to keep up with the times in order to compete with other sports.

“Our direct competition is cycling because of the family friendly element. We are trying to reinvent ourselves to be more family orientated.

“Furthermore, cost and time are factors that count against golf. Internationally, golf is made shorter – the States for example are pushing the nine-hole format.”

McNamara said despite the fact that KZN is ranked as the 12th most important golf destination in the world, without the buy in from government and golf estates it cannot work.

“One of the biggest problems is that no one knows what the golf tourism industry is worth.

“It is estimated that golf tourists spend more than double what leisure tourists spend.

“We have had about R1 million worth of inquiries for this year already. However, there are no statistics to show what is happening.

“Golf is still seen as a niche sport and until we can prove otherwise, we are going to battle to get funding from government.”

Ilembe Chamber CEO Cobus Oelofse said they have recognised the potential of golf tourism, but they are aware that public sector support is limited.

“Two years ago we introduced a celebrity golf challenge to complement the annual Lifestyle Corporate Golf Challenge which was a huge success with coverage of all four our tourist ready golf courses on Supersport’s Supergolf programme.

“However, with Supersport cutting back on their investment in golf coverage and therefore not covering the event last year, we decided not to present the celebrity component this year,” said Oelofse.

Still, he said golf tourists are high spenders and therefore the exact international tourist we want to attract.

“The southern and western Cape have perfected the art of marketing themselves as a golf tourist destination on the back of two or three months of good golfing weather – our weather is suitable all year round.

“With our region’s gateway access to big five game reserves, the allure of Durban and the iconic status of Royal Durban Country Club to complement our offering, we can do so much better.”

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