FullGolf

Interview of Peter Walton, President of the International Association of Golf Tours Operators

Hello Peter Walton. Thank you to receive FullGolf (interview held during IGTM 2008 in Marbella).
Could you tell us about yourself?  who are you and what was your cursus, please?
Sure, i am Peter Walton, president of the International Association of Golf Tours Operators.

 
We are basically the global trade association in the golf tourism industry. And we have 1 140 members companies and organizations, golfs, golf hotels, golf courses, tour-operators, all around the world in 77 countries.
 
Can you speak about your personal cursus, who are you,  and from where went the idea of this adventure?
I am British, from London. I live and work in London. But this is now my back yard. I have to visit, learn and understand all golf destinations from Ushuaia in Argentina to Vietnam, so the world is the playground now. I have always seen now being in the tourism industry meanwhile i started as a zoologist. Basically i have been at the zoology university, then i worked as a zoologist for two years in South America.
My interest was also always in the travel side, and i setup my own travel business in 1996, so i have ran tour-operation to Thailand, to Egypt and other places around the world, and i have been representing airlines and hotels and lot of different companies in the travel industry.
I did that a number of years and became Director of Promotion Exteriore de Tenerife which is the Tenerife Tourist Board in London, and in fact that's where it started back. In 1994 Tenerife asked me to turn their island into a golf destination. It just had three courses at the time, and we were successfull in doing that.
I had a great time doing that, enjoyed it a lot, and it was sitting on the island of La Gomera which has one course looking out the Atlantic (it didn't had a course then), and i had the idea of doing an International Golf Travel Market where we are today, and now in its eleventh year.
So i put together the show (it is now owned and operated by Reed Travel Exhibitions), and in the same time, in 1997 i setup the association, IAGTO. So it has been building and growing every year since then.
To me, it is about listening and understanding the market, coming up with creative ideas to help destinations particularly undiscovered, emerging destinations grown, sustainable grown, it is essential. And to help established destinations retain and expand their tourism, because it is not easy.
What is exciting or what is boring in your job?
I guess i never look at the clock and i don't have any people can say that. I have a great team of seven people, the same people for seven years. I don't know how many small companies can keep their staff that length of time and if it wasn't them i wouldn't enjoy my job as much.
But i don't love flying so much. I don't like the travel aspect of travelling, it is like sitting on a bus. So my favorite part is arriving and seeing destinations and new aspects of destinations.
I guess the excitement for me is finding solutions, giving people ideas, enabling them to carry up business in better or more effective ways. And that's what kicks me.
What will be your more challenging objective for 2009?
For me it is just about making a difference, and if we can make a difference and position an entier global industry in a better way to take advantages of what would be a very difficult year, then we can be very proud of what we do as a very small organization, and that's my objective here at IGTM listening to people's feedback. I believe it will have some success.
I think the golf tourism industry has to be affected by global tourism trends, but i am confident in this industry despite what all economists say.
As a conclusion, what would you recommend to exhibitors, buyers or even people who are not here today?
The golf tourism industry as all the world is going through an economic realignment. It may be useful to look mobile at the service and the quality of the product perhaps but also the price.
I would like every golf tour operator, every golf resort, course and destination to find ways of delivering an even better experience to the travelling golfer next year, the best possible value for money.
Thank you Peter.