The new president of the National Council of the Golf Industry (CNIG) has highlighted the impact of more than €2 billion of the sector on the economy.

In an interview with Lusa, Nuno Sepúlveda – who took office about a week ago – said that one of the objectives of the board he presides over is combating the “stigma” that he considers exists “against golf”. “There is a stigma against golf because of for some reason, whether because of the water [courses consume], the environment, or the prejudice that it is a sport for rich people, and we have to rectify this situation because it is not true”.

He highlighted that “across Portugal, but particularly in the Algarve, golf is very relevant for tourism”, attracting tourists to areas “that would not exist if it weren’t for golf, sailing or other sports” and plays an important role in combating seasonality.

“But it has a completely different VAT treatment from other tourist products”, he lamented, in reference to the maximum VAT rate at which the sector has been taxed since 2011.

As he recalls, that year, “due to the crisis, VAT rose across the board, but then they were all reduced, but golf never went back.”


Sport for “the rich”

“Above all, there is a prejudice that it is a sport for rich people, when in fact the golf we sell in Portugal is very little for the Portuguese customer. It is for a foreign client, where two people normally come to spend seven nights, rent a car, pay for a plane, have lunch and dinner out every day, and are in a hotel or apartment, with various associated consumptions that benefit the economy”, he emphasised.

Defending that “golf is a tourist product as valid as any other”, Nuno Sepúlveda notes that it involves “very expensive assets, which cost a lot of money to maintain”, and that the lack of liquidity on the part of the owners has led to the aging of these infrastructures – since the golf courses, clubhouses, and respective restaurants - which “have an average age of 20/30 years”.

Carrying out updated economic studies to assess the economic impact of golf in Portugal is another of the objectives of the new CNIG management, with Nuno Sepúlveda convinced that the current value of the sector is “much greater” than the €2 billion calculated in the last study, dated 2019.


Water management

Among the priorities of the new CNIG management is the issue of water resources management, with the objective being “to open a comprehensive debate with the aim of demystifying the idea that golf is a large consumer of water compared to other sectors”.

“Of course, there are water problems in Portugal. But, of all the water used in the Algarve, where the issue of water resources arises in particular, less than 6% is used for golf”, maintains Nuno Sepúlveda.

He states that while “municipal water transport systems lose up to 50% of water, totalling millions and millions of cubic meters”, golf has “the most advanced sensors, pumping stations and types of grass” and "watering to the millimetre".

“I'm not saying that water doesn't need to be protected, but the bogeyman is certainly not golf. It’s a non-issue,” he maintained.

Recalling that last year Portugal was voted the best golf destination in the world, Nuno Sepúlveda concludes, lamenting: “We have such a good product… why are we so ashamed of promoting it?”.