Scottish golf tourism should become more environmentally friendly
Known as the Home of Golf, Scotland is also said to be working on its sustainability goals when it comes to tourism. VisitScotland, the country’s national tourism authority, is now working with UK organization GEO, which is Europe’s largest certifier on environmental issues.
With the help of GEO, all Scottish golf clubs are equipped with OnCourse Scotland, a software for sustainable club and course management. Together with the national golf association Scottish Golf, the motivation for the implementation of sustainability projects should be increased in the golf courses.
International tournaments attract tourists
After Scotland is the venue for seven major international golf tournaments this summer, national and international tourism in this area is also to be better organized. Scotland’s government aims to achieve a net carbon footprint for the country by 2045 and to reduce all emissions by at least 75% by 2030.
“With golf being such a big part of our tourism sector, we want to implement our general approach to responsible tourism here too, helping both the golf courses and the high quality tournaments,” said Malcolm Roughead, Visit Scotland’s CEO, when announcing the partnership.
Apart from the fact that all golf clubs will be equipped with the OnCourse software, no concrete measures for the joint project have yet been announced. However, Karin Sharp, COO at Scottish Golf, summed up that the overall feedback from Scottish golf courses on the subject was very positive: “As part of our strategy assessment, golf clubs across the country told us that sustainability is very important to them.”
Hundreds of thousands of golf visitors
There are plenty of opportunities to implement sustainability concepts in Scotland this summer: After the 150. Open, the AIG Women’s Open, the Genesis Scottish Open, the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open, the Senior Open Championship and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship will all attract several hundred thousand visitors, the need for sustainable tourism concepts is undoubtedly there.
