- Golf d’Hardelot welcomed 18% more golfers (2018), year-on-year
- Le Manoir Hôtel at Le Touquet Golf Resort increased bookings by 30%
- Visitor growth from UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Scandinavia and the domestic market
Golf d’Hardelot and Le Touquet Golf Resort on France’s northern coast have reported significant increases in visitors, underpinned by growing business from the UK, Belgium, The Netherlands and Scandinavia.
Golf d’Hardelot and Le Touquet Golf Resort, home to France’s No.1 links*, reported 18% and 6% rises in green fees respectively in 2018, continuing an upward momentum that started in 2017, where Le Touquet Golf Resort saw an 8% rise on the previous year.
Le Touquet Golf Resort’s refurbished Le Manoir Hôtel, voted France’s Best Golf Hotel** for three consecutive years, also experienced an uplift in visitor numbers, reporting a 30% increase in bookings for 2018.
Le Manoir’s refurbishment was part of a multi-million Euro renovation programme across Le Touquet Golf Resort, which has seen the award-winning restoration of La Mer (The Sea), France’s No. 1 links course, and the construction of a bold architect-designed clubhouse.
Golf d’Hardelot has enjoyed increased popularity after an astute and thorough golf course renovation project. Golf architects Frank Pont and Patrice Boissonnas used old photographs and aerial views to restore Les Pins (The Pines) to Tom Simpson’s original 1931 routing and design, recreating the shaping and contours of greens, surrounds, fairways and bunker edges.
CEO, Laurent Boissonnas, commented: “The Ryder Cup has undoubtedly put the focus on France, with courses and resorts around Paris and in northern France benefitting from an increase in travelling golfers. However, thanks to our own investment projects, this positive trend had been building at our venues since the end of 2017, was noticed throughout 2018, and early bookings indicate it is continuing in 2019.
“Our goal has been to create a new golden age of golf travel on France’s northern coast, and it means so much to see, not just the increase in visitors, but also a broader range of international golfers discovering golf on the Opal Coast.”
Le Touquet Golf Resort and Golf d’Hardelot are easily reached from the UK, Belgium and The Netherlands, as well as the rest of France, by road and rail; both located less than an hour’s drive south of the Eurotunnel terminus on the A16 autoroute.
For more information about Le Touquet Golf Resort, visit www.letouquetgolfresort.com/en
and for Golf d’Hardelot, visit www.hardelotgolfclub.com/en
* Golf World magazine (UK)
** Today’s Golfer Travel Awards
ENDS
Picture caption 1: Golf d’Hardelot’s Les Pins (The Pines), Top100GolfCourses.com’s highest-rising course, jumping 36 places to #23 in the 2018-2019 Continental European Courses ranking
Picture caption 2: Le Touquet Golf Resort’s La Mer (The Sea, hole 16), ranked 35th in Top100GolfCourses.com’s 2018-2019 Top 100 Continental European Courses ranking
About Le Touquet Golf Resort
Le Touquet Golf Resort is home of France’s #1 links course, La Mer. The classic 1931 Harry Colt design and lost holes have now been exquisitely restored. La Mer ranks at no. 31 in Golf World magazine’s Top 100 Golf Courses of Continental Europe ranking and 35th in Top100GolfCourses.com’s Continental European listing. Europe’s most fashionable resort of the ‘Roaring Twenties’ and 1930s, Le Touquet remains an iconic destination blending elegant style and architecture with wide, open sandy beaches, surrounded by pine forest. Today, with the contemporary comforts and hospitality of a new architect designed clubhouse and plans for a boutique style hotel at Le Manoir, Le Touquet Golf Resort and its three courses is ushering in a new golden age of European golf travel.
About Golf d’Hardelot
Golf d’Hardelot is 10 minutes from the centre of Neufchâtel-Hardelot on the north east coast of Pas-de-Calais, France’s northernmost department. It boasts two superb 18 hole courses, Les Pins and Les Dunes. Meandering through dunes and forest, these two sand-based layouts offer great fun for all levels of player.
Les Pins was designed by Tom Simpson and opened in 1931. It features at no. 24 in Golf World magazine’s Top 100 Golf Courses of Continental Europe ranking and 23rd in Top100GolfCourses.com’s Continental European listing.
Les Dunes was opened in 1991. Designed by the late Paul Rolin and Jean Claude Cornillot, it has also undergone significant restoration work to offer a contrasting golfing challenge, while catering for the increasing demand from international golf visitors.
About Open Golf Club
Open Golf Club is a leading international golf management group, based in France. Founded in 1987, it now provides services to 50 golf clubs in six countries in Europe, including France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Italy.