Temples and 10-gallon hats beckon golf tour operators in 2019

By Rahul Banerji

From Asia’s Golden Land and the Wild West in America, a feel and taste of the Orient and North America will be on offer for golf tour operators attending two International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO) conventions in 2019.

A global golf tourism organisation, IAGTO is taking its eighth annual Asia Golf Tourism Convention (AGTC) to Siem Reap in Cambodia for some Asian spice from March 31 to April 5.

In turn, its 11th North America Golf Tourism Convention (NAC) heads for the hills at Horseshoe Bay Resort near Austin, in the Texas Lakes and Hill Country, from June 23 to 26, the association said in a statement.

IAGTO seeks to showcase golf destinations at the right time to generate maximum benefit to host destinations for its membership meetings, both in the Asia Pacific region and in North America, the statement added.

Two firsts

The two conventions are firsts for IAGTO. It is staging the AGTC in Siem Reap – home to the world’s largest ancient temple complex, the Unesco World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat – where 150 golf tour operators will meet with a similar number of IAGTO member golf destination suppliers from across the Asia-Pacific region.

NAC 2019 will also be the first time that IAGTO has staged an official members’ event in Texas. A similar numbers of buyers and suppliers will attend the NAC convention to plan golf travel programmes for the coming seasons and discuss issues of importance to the region.

IAGTO chief executive Peter Walton said: “As we begin our 22nd year it is immensely gratifying still to be taking our accredited golf tour operator members, who now number 704 in 65 countries, to meet their fellow supplier members in golf destinations with which they may not be that familiar.

“We thought it might be difficult to top last year’s combination of Oregon and the Philippines, but once again we have been able to deliver something very special to companies looking to develop golf travel programmes on opposite sides of the globe.”

Golf tour operator delegates attending the 2019 Asia convention in Cambodia (its name derives from Golden Land in Sanskrit) span 33 countries.

Lara Croft temple

The two days of face-to-face meetings between members will start with tours of Angkor Wat, the Bayon Temple and Ta Prohm Temple – also known as the “Tomb Raider Temple” for its ruins overgrown by tree roots that featured in the movie starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft – prior to the event and three golf days in Siem Reap directly after.

For their part, the golf tour operators from 31 countries visiting the heart of the Texas Lake and Hill Country for the NAC will take part in familiarisation trips to Austin, San Antonio and Houston either side of the convention, the IAGTO statement said.

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