How does the golfer book his holiday? According to the motto, “I just want to get away to a great golf course”, – or does he perhaps prefer to choose a golf resort that follows environmental criteria? What do we actually know about sustainable travel in the golf industry?
Tourism is an extremely important segment within the golf market. According to the National Golf Foundation, travel is the second-most-important sector of the golf industry. The US golf travel market is estimated to be worth around 5.6 billion dollars in 2025. The turnover of the golf travel market in Portugal, for example, amounted to around EUR 4.2 billion in 2023, corresponding to approximately 1.6% of Portuguese GDP. Golf clubs in Ireland, Scotland, or England with highly attractive links courses can offer their members comparatively cheap memberships because thousands of tourists from all over the world are willing to pay over 200 pounds or euros for a round of golf on one of the well-known courses in the high season. Golf tourism also influences membership models for local golfers.
Golfers love to travel. More than twelve million Americans have taken a golf trip every year since 2022. 1250 golf courses in the USA alone are designated as resorts. Golf travel providers offer trips from New Zealand to Asia, South America and the Caribbean. Even ice golf in winter can be organised. In short, golf tourism is an industry.
In a way, this is a dilemma. As an outdoor sport, golf is particularly affected by the effects of climate change. The Tryall Club in Jamaica had to close after the extremely severe Hurricane Melissa. The devastating forest fires in Los Angeles made golf trips to Pacific Palisades impossible in early 2025. In recent years, tourists on France’s coasts have occasionally landed on golf courses that had not seen water for weeks – in some regions of France, groundwater irrigation is prohibited during droughts. Whether it’s extreme heat, drought or forest fires – all of these have an impact on tourism.
However, according to a recent study by the University of Queensland, it accounts for 8.8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2009, it has grown by an average of around 3.5 percent annually. There are no current tourism figures for golf and the topic of sustainability, but a study by the German Sport University Cologne a few years ago showed that the carbon footprint of a German golfer, including their travels, was on average 2195 kg per person per year, putting them in third place behind divers and surfers.
Are golfers aware of their carbon footprint and how sustainable do they actually want to travel, we wanted to know. After all, the latest Travel & Sustainability Report 2025 by tour operator Booking.com, which surveyed 32,000 travellers, revealed that 93% of all travellers “want to make more sustainable travel choices or have already done so.”
If the experts at TUI AG, the world’s largest travel provider, are to be believed, golf tourists are also very interested in sustainability. “For many, the sustainable use of our resources is now a way of life that is playing an increasingly important role – including when deciding on a holiday,” they say when asked. “However, in most cases, this is not the decisive booking criterion, but complements factors such as price, comfort and destination.”
A statement that Visit Scotland, the national agency for Scotland’s internationally renowned golf tourism, agrees with: “Yes, sustainability is increasingly a topic of conversation,” they say. When choosing accommodation, guests consider the combination of quality and ecological responsibility. Booking.com also states in its sustainability report that 53% of all travellers are aware of the impact of their trip on the local population and the environment. It can be assumed that golfers are no exception, even though several smaller tour operators from the D-A-CH region and the UK tell us that golfers do not ask for sustainable goals in their programs.
The following may also apply to golf tourism and sustainability: where there is no supply, there is no demand. Perhaps researching sustainable goals is often too complicated. TUI is one of the few golf tour operators that give customers the opportunity to at least filter for sustainable hotels or resorts. If you try to find a sustainable option on golfbreaks.com, a major market player, you will fail. Sustainability is not a filter feature; hotel certifications such as GreenKey are not listed. For golf courses, no reference is made to GEO, ISO, or Golf and Nature certification. The same applies to yourgolftravel.com or the website leadingcourses.com, which is visited by many travellers. To make a long story short: The choice is made very difficult for the willing golfer who would explicitly prefer to travel sustainably, because there is, in fact, hardly anything on offer from the tour operators.
VisitScotland and TUI are apparently finding grateful customers with their own offers. “We highlight companies that have green certification or a climate plan or tell their sustainability story,” says VisitScotland. International standards, such as those of the GEO Foundation, play an important role.. TUI refers to the Green & Fair label for hotels and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s criteria. Upon request, the customer receives a list of sustainable travel options immediately. Anyone who takes a closer look at sustainability in golf knows that there is a wide range of internationally renowned resorts, hotels, and courses that are strongly committed to sustainability. The only question is: how does the golf tourist find out about it?
Golf tourism and sustainability actually belong together. After all, travellers expect unspoiled nature and safety at their destination. When it comes to communicating sustainability factors in golf travel, however, the industry is clearly only just beginning. As is always the case with sustainability, there are pioneers in this segment too – fortunately for golf tourists looking for sustainable travel options.
