Qualität im Golftourismus : Konzeption für die Nordeifel auf Basis nationaler Trends
The objective of the dissertation is to develop a concept of golf tourism tailored to the regional conditions and at the same time based on national trends. For this purpose, the various components of the structure and their effects are examined first. Besides the analysis of the actual situation of tourism and golf, this requires a description of the respective current trends which – as the paper shows – have manifold parallels. After the Second World War, tourism developed at a world-wide scale into a phenomenon which, owing to its complexity, is subject to changes of the environment, social structures, and the economy like hardly any other economic factor and at the same time has itself a changing effect on these fields (Landgrebe 2000). The tourist industry is regarded as one of the most dynamic branches of industry – in the year 2000 approximately 5.4-5.5 billion tourists will presumably have spent 3.85 trillion US-$ (Baratta 2001) – and at the same time it is considered one of the most important employers (about 230 billion employees) of the world. Golf tourism as a whole is also regarded as a growth industry. In 1998, the entire market of golf tourism amounted to approximately 10 billion US-$, 2 billion US-$ of which were turned over in Europe. In 1999 compared to the year before, the German market alone accounted for over 45 per cent of the total additional European golf travels. Experts expect that golf tourism in Europe will double within five years to about 4 billion US-$ and that it will triple in the United States within ten years to 30 billion US-$. The current member statistics of the German Golf Association (Deutscher Golfverband e.V. – DGV) reflect this trend and show an annual growth rate of 8 per cent on average between 1995 and 2000. Nevertheless, in Germany up to now only 0.45 per cent of the population plays golf. Regarding the development of this type of sport, Germany is lagging far behind the Anglo-Saxon countries owing to the prevailing deficient outline conditions. However, the popularity of golf does not only grow as a leisure time factor but also as a way to spend one's holidays. Experts suggest that especially the segment of short travels (four overnight stays at most) offers prospects and opens up manifold possibilities above all for rural areas. Owing to its regional disparities regarding both the development of tourism and golf, the Eifel region in North Rhine-Westphalia is studied as a representative example of rural areas in Central Europe. Like in many other German destinations, it is necessary to develop a new general strategy, a guiding model, which ensures a sustainable development of the region – being at the same time oriented towards the forms of holiday which are in vogue. In order to prove the potential of golf, which is in part a controversial type of sport in ecological, economic, and social respects, a catalogue of criteria was prepared. Furthermore, own calculations were made to determine the importance of tourism in this region, and the existing offers of golf were examined applying different methods, the target groups were analyzed, and the local pre-conditions for future golf tourism were clarified. According to the conception, an orientation of golf towards tourism is to be aspired by linking up the existing facilities with each other and with the suppliers of tourist travels. Furthermore, a new product, e.g. a "family golf centre", is to be offered which usefully supplements the horizontal supply structure and meets the requirements of the target groups.
info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/796, Sport, Nordeifel, Fremdenverkehr, Golf, Nachhaltige Entwicklung
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