Golf Business News – Revenue Club reports record visitor sales at its UK and Irish clubs

After a relatively wet summer, August delivered an exceptional month of tourist sales which was the third highest ever recorded in the UK and Ireland, just behind the months of June and July 2020.

This was the biggest month of the year for green fees revenue, increasing by 17% in July to £25,697 total for the golf club working with The Revenue Club.

A sample size of 200 clubs and £6.7m in visitor revenue showed an increase of 28% last August, the biggest growth month in 2024 with demand at its highest level in four years.

This unique level of revenue in the UK and Ireland market has boosted annual growth to 13% with the average club registering £126,832 in green fee sales so far in 2024.

The dry weather has coincided with the high holiday season to bring good conditions for the golf course business to benefit from the incredible levels of demand that reflect the health of the industry.

The growing trend in online sales was a major driver of the increase as 69% of all tourist revenue came through online booking engines – a 39% increase in August 2023. Phone and walk-in bookings also grew, but at a lower rate of 11%.

“It’s incredibly exciting to see this level of growth in the industry with golf clubs enjoying levels of visitor demand that we haven’t seen in four years,” said Rob Corcoran, Director of The Revenue Club. “It shows the importance of green tourism money as a key ingredient of the business mix, and the potential that can be achieved through focused marketing and dynamic pricing structures.”

The biggest increase in income in 2024 was due to general price increases, but the YOY growth in the average green fee in August was small, rising by only 4% to £27.53 per person. This resulted in a 3% increase in the average price to £59.09 per person

An important indicator of the increase in demand is the increase in web traffic to golf booking engines which reached 1,974 users in the average club in August – the highest since the summer of 2020 and 11% more than the same month last year. The conversion of this traffic to bookings has remained stable at 13% which shows the eagerness of golfers to play in the last half of the summer season.

For more information, contact Rob Corcoran at rob@therevenueclub.co.uk