The pandemic brought "many uncertainties", but Carlos Ferreira, founder and manager of Tee Times Golf Agency, one of the main golf agencies in the country and which is based in Vilamoura, has a deep conviction: this is a «strategic sector for the Algarve that we cannot let die».
The story of the creation of Tee Times Golf Agency, founded about 20 years ago, can be explained by "a sequence of coincidences".
«There was the opening of the low cost in aviation, the development of the real estate industry and there began to be another type of client who either had a house in the Algarve or could already travel in a more autonomous way», tells the entrepreneur to Sul Informação.
Based on this, golfers now need only the «green fee», a kind of pass that allows you to use the fields, with discounts.
«Initially, people came to the Algarve to play golf through traditional foreign operators, with a complete package, including travel and accommodation. With green fees, this ceased to exist and golf became a product more accessible to everyone», he explains.
But Carlos Ferreira's experience in the world of tourism was old – namely in the hotel business, which also led him to bet on the golf sector.
Today, he has agreements with all the fields in Portugal and also with many in Spain, with results in sight.
“It is an experience that is being very interesting, with sustainable growth. In 2019, we closed the year with 95 thousand laps, very good numbers», he adds.
2020 was also going well…until March. «Our turnover, last year, fell by more than 75%», laments Carlos Ferreira.
The pandemic changed turns in a sector with so many parchments in the Algarve.
To get an idea, at a regional level, according to data from the Association of Hoteliers and Touristic Enterprises of the Algarve (AHETA), the average number of rounds per course (18 holes) was 1205, 21,1% below that recorded in the homologous month in 2019.
Vaccination is advancing around the world, and there is some hope in the return of travel and tourist activity, but the prospects for this year remain "very uncertain".
«People are withdrawn, are asking questions, asking for prices, but confirmation is not happening because we still don't have concrete data that it will be possible to travel and under what conditions to Portugal and Spain. It's all a big uncertainty and we're going to see how everything will happen», says Carlos Ferreira.
In the opinion of the person responsible for TeeTimes, it was possible to “do more and better” to support the golf sector.
“There may be some movement here, from residents, but it's not those people who count – the value is residual. They will give a movement of 10, 20% to the fields, but that is not what generates the business», considers Carlos Ferreira.
“It's all so uncertain that we can't have firm optimism and that's what's missing. We have had some windows that open, but pass. Last year, in September, we had a good peak in reserves, for example, with an interesting October, but then everything dropped again», he adds.
It is certain that this is a «strategic sector for the Algarve». “The industry is the best, the fields are well organized and structured. We have an operation that is very good worldwide, we are at the top, in terms of the service provided», he emphasizes.
“We cannot let this sector die”, he concludes.
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