The National Council of Golf Industry (CNIG) in Portugal took advantage of the Portugal Masters to present the Visit Portugal Golf website -www.visitportugalgolf.com.
To be launched in 2012, with a budget of €500,000 funded by the Portugal Tourism Board, the website will be a portal for online booking of golf rounds.
The official presentation took place in the Media Centre at the Portugal Masters, attended by Secretary of State for Tourism, Cecilia Meireles, the president of the Portuguese Golf Federation, Manuel Agrellos, and the president of CNIG, Diogo Gaspar Ferreira, as well as the host, manager and president of Ocean Golf AlgarveGolf Christopher Stillwell.
Diogo Gaspar Ferreira said: "Visit Portugal Golf is unprecedented around the world and is the first time you can book online tee-times, green fees, and receive a voucher for all the golf courses of Portugal. It is a complex structure which, once completed, will reach a total of 5% online booking in the first year, and with the medium-term target of 15% to 17% per year of all reserves of golf in Portugal.”
Cecilia Meireles said: "It is important to invest in new means of distribution," adding that "this portal is innovative internationally and we have to adapt to a different world out there."
The Secretary of State for Tourism also pointed out; “The Portugal Masters provides an image that promotes Portugal and all television broadcasts have been showing this wonderful weather, rare this time of year in other parts of the world.”
Manuel Agrellos drew attention to the need to increase the number of golf players in Portugal, and praised the CNIG for their work alongside the clubs and the federation, in order to promote Portugal as a country of golf.
