Already in the third year of their campaign, 2006 has yet again been another fantastic year for England’s Golf Coast. July saw the Open Championship return to Royal Liverpool Golf Club for the first time since Roberto De Vicenzo’s famous victory in 1967. With the fantastic summer weather the crowds came in droves throughout the week to witness Tiger Woods claim his third Claret Jug.

Buoyed by the success of the Open Championship figures have show a substantial increase in the number of rounds played and accommodation booked on England’s Golf Coast. There have also been far more overseas visitors than any previous year, clearly show the world wide regard for the quality of courses in the region.

March 2007 will also see the introduction of and Online Tee-Time Booking System which is designed to make the whole process of booking a round of golf far easier for all of England’s Golf Coast Visitors.

England’s Golf Coast can now lay claim to being a strong competitor to the likes of Ireland and Scotland as the most popular golfing destination in the UK & Ireland. With such illustrious Open Championship venues as Royal Liverpool, Royal Birkdale and Royal Lytham that are backed up by such other reputable gems as Formby, Hillside, Southport & Ainsdale, Silloth-on-Solway and West Lancashire it’s hard to see why any golfer would want leave the country for his golfing holiday.

The Northwest of England is fast becoming the most significant golfing destination in the UK outside of St Andrews and it could soon be challenging its Scottish rival in the tourism stakes now that the Boroughs of Sefton, Wirral, Fylde and Lancashire have teamed up with the North West Development Agency (NWDA) and The Mersey Partnership for a major tourism promotional push.

The NWDA invests £220 million per annum to encourage the economic, social, physical and environmental regeneration of key areas in the region. Its agenda now includes a major initiative to promote England's North West region to golfers.

Southport, recognised as the hotbed for golf within the region itself, is already a popular tourist spot with its pavement cafes, tree-lined boulevards and stunning floral displays.

The Borough of Fylde has a huge range of attractive amenities in addition to many fine courses including well maintained parks and gardens, five miles of sandy beaches and acres of picturesque countryside.

Wirral, meanwhile, is one of Northwest England's most attractive locations, renowned for its leisure and sports facilities, including the famous Royal Liverpool Golf Club and numerous other courses. The world-famous Mersey Ferries sail between Liverpool's Pier Head waterfront and the Wirral towns of Birkenhead and Seacombe. Special attractions include the floating maritime museum of Falkland’s frigate HMS Plymouth and the Pacific Road Arts & Exhibition Centre featuring a unique Victorian street scene and displays of historic vehicles. Adding impetus to the new marketing drive is the announcement that Liverpool is European Capital of Culture 2008.

The announcement that “England’s Golf Coast” is to sponsor the 2004 Curtis Cup at Formby is confirmation of the regions intention to establish itself as one of the leading golf destinations in Europe.

The "England's Golf Coast" promotional campaign includes information on the region's three Open Golf Championship courses - Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham & St Annes and Royal Liverpool (Hoylake), where visitors can follow in the footsteps of Harry Vardon, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. There is also a guide to other championship standard courses within easy reach, such as Southport and Ainsdale, West Lancashire, Hillside and Hesketh, plus information on another 150 courses that lie within an a 50 mile radius of England’s Golf Coast.

All relevant information will also soon be found on the website www.englandsgolfcoast.com
 
For more information contact Neil Gray at GMS on +44 (0) 1438 718399 or E-mail neil@gmsgolf.co.uk

A major new promotional drive is set to make the North West one of Europe’s biggest golfing hotspots, alongside area such as of St Andrews in Scotland, Spain’s Costa Del Sol and The Algarve in Portugal.
It’s hoped hundreds of new jobs and millions of additional tourist pounds will flow into the area over the next few years as a result of the new campaign which will be aimed at golfers in key European countries as well as the UK
The Boroughs of Sefton, Wirral, Fylde and Lancashire have teamed up with the North West Development Agency (NWDA) - which currently invests over £220 million per annum in the region - and The Mersey Partnership, which represents the private and public sectors as well as tourism in the area, to embark on a £100,000 marketing campaign to promote the region’s golfing and tourism attractions to the rest of the UK and Europe.
The North West will be branded “England’s Golf Coast” as part of the multi-media campaign, which covers advertising, guides and websites.  It will include information on the region’s three outstanding Open Golf Championship courses - Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham & St Annes and Royal Liverpool (Hoylake), plus guides to other championship standard courses in the area such as Southport and Ainsdale, West Lancashire, Hillside and Hesketh and another 160 courses in the region.
It will also include information on the North West’s many other tourist attractions, such as the cities of Manchester and Liverpool, the Lake District as well as special events such as the Grand National at Aintree.

The Northwest of England is the most significant golfing destination in the UK outside of St Andrews and it could soon be challenging its Scottish rival in the tourism stakes now that the Boroughs of Sefton, Wirral, Fylde and Lancashire have teamed up with the North West Development Agency (NWDA) and The Mersey Partnership for a major new tourism promotional push.

The NWDA invests £220 million per annum to encourage the economic, social, physical and environmental regeneration of key areas in the region. Its agenda will now see a new initiative to promote England's North West region to golfers.

Southport, recognised as the hotbed for golf within the region itself, is already a popular tourist spot with its pavement cafes, tree-lined boulevards and stunning floral displays.

The Borough of Fylde has a huge range of attractive amenities in addition to many fine courses including well maintained parks and gardens, five miles of sandy beaches and acres of picturesque countryside.

Wirral, meanwhile, is one of Northwest England's most attractive locations, renowned for its leisure and sports facilities, including the famous Royal Liverpool Golf Club and numerous other courses. The world-famous Mersey Ferries sail between Liverpool's Pier Head waterfront and the Wirral towns of Birkenhead and Seacombe. Special attractions include the floating maritime museum of Falkland’s frigate HMS Plymouth and the Pacific Road Arts & Exhibition Centre featuring a unique Victorian street scene and displays of historic vehicles. Adding impetus to the new marketing drive is the announcement that Liverpool is European Capital of Culture 2008.

The "England's Golf Coast" promotional campaign will include information on the region's three Open Golf Championship courses - Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham & St Annes and Royal Liverpool (Hoylake), where visitors can follow in the footsteps of Harry Vardon, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. There will also be published guides to other championship standard courses within easy reach, such as Southport and Ainsdale, West Lancashire, Hillside and Hesketh, plus information on another 150 courses that lie within an a 50 mile radius of England’s Golf Coast.

All relevant information will also soon be found on the website www.englandsgolfcoast.com
 
For more information contact Neil Gray at GMS on +44 (0) 1438 718399 or E-mail neil@gmsgolf.co.uk

England’s Golf Coast is delighted to announce that is has signed an agreement with the highly reputable golf travel company Golfbreaks.com to become their official Travel Trade Partner.

The deal signals a significant move forward for England’s Golf Coast, joining forces with Golfbreaks.com means that golfers will now be able to book a full itinerary for their golf holiday.
As well as the ability to book with Golfbreaks.com, visitors to England’s Golf Coast can also book direct on the website and in March will have the added facility of Online Booking on www.englandsgolfcoast.com.

Commenting on the partnership Charlie Grimley, England’s Golf Coast’s Golf Development Manager said: “We are delighted to be associated with such a renowned company as Golfbreaks.com.
“I believe that the combination of their knowledge of the golf travel market combined with the quality of golf courses on England’s Golf Coast will drive  more visitors to the area.”

Golfbreaks.com was launched in August 1999 and is now widely recognised as Europe's largest golf    travel company, providing golf breaks, holidays and tours to over 750 venues across the UK and Europe. Their team has over 25 years of experience in organising golf breaks for clubs, societies, corporate groups and groups of   friends.

Quote from Golfbreaks “

England’s Golf Coast can now lay claim to being a strong competitor to the likes of Ireland and Scotland as the most popular golfing destination in the UK & Ireland. With such illustrious Open Championship venues as Royal Liverpool, Royal Birkdale and Royal Lytham that are backed up by such other reputable gems as Formby, Hillside, Southport & Ainsdale, Silloth-on-Solway and West Lancashire it’s hard to see why any golfer would want leave the country for his golfing holiday.

The "England's Golf Coast" campaign is playing a major part in a sustained new drive to regenerate the North West of England that will culminate in the city of Liverpool being crowned "European Capital of Culture" in 2008.

The "England's Golf Coast" campaign is the result of the Boroughs of Sefton, Wirral and Fylde teaming up with the North West Development Agency (NWDA) and The Mersey Partnership to make the region the most significant golfing destination in the UK.

The campaign aims to attract thousands of new visitors from around the world to the region's rich reservoir of golf courses, including three Open Golf Championship courses, Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham & St Annes and Royal Liverpool (Hoylake). Information will be supplied to potential visitors about all of the 160 superb courses that are situated in the area. This information will be disseminated through a multi-media publicity campaign which includes a new series of published guides and a recently launched website, www.englandsgolfcoast.com

In addition to the "England's Golf Coast campaign, a new development drive for the North West began this year with Celebrating Learning 2003, the first in Liverpool's programme of themed years. One of its flagship projects is the Reach for the Stars campaign, challenging 50,000 citizens of all ages to achieve their learning ambitions.

Next, 2004 will be celebrated as a year of 'Faith in One City' - a 12 month-long celebration encompassing Liverpool's unique culture and diverse religious communities.

The third themed year - 2005 - will celebrate the Arts, involving projects by galleries, museums, theatres, orchestras, schools and colleges  and then  the "England's Golf Coast" campaign will reach a climax in 2006 when the Open Championship returns to Royal Liverpool for the first time in 38 years.

The whole of 2006 will have special sports theme with rugby sevens and gymnastics, the European Amateur Boxing championships, a mini football World Cup, plus city-wide community games.

Finally, in 2008, Liverpool will be crowned European Capital of Culture with a special programme of special events throughout the year that, it is estimated, will help create 14,000 new jobs, bring in an extra 1.7 million visitors and significantly boost investment in new public facilities, tourism and transport.
  
All relevant information will also soon be found on the website www.englandsgolfcoast.com
 
For more information contact Neil Gray at GMS on +44 (0) 1438 718399 or E-mail neil@gmsgolf.co.uk

Already in the third year of their campaign, 2006 has yet again been another fantastic year for England’s Golf Coast. July saw the Open Championship return to Royal Liverpool Golf Club for the first time since Roberto De Vicenzo’s famous victory in 1967. With the fantastic summer weather the crowds came in their droves throughout the week to watch Tiger Woods claim his third Claret Jug.

Buoyed by the success of the Open Championship figures have shown a substantial increase in the number of rounds played and accommodation booked on England’s Golf Coast. There have also been far more overseas visitors than any previous year, clearly showing the world wide regard for the quality of courses in the region.

Commenting on the success Charlie Grimley, England’s Golf Coast’s Golf Development
Manager said: “We are delighted to have once again increased golf traffic throughout the region.
This clearly underlines the fact that there continues to be a growing interest in our world class
golf courses both in the UK and worldwide.”

March 2007 will see a significant introduction of an Online Tee-Time Booking System, which is designed to make the whole process of booking a round of golf far simpler for all of England’s Golf Coast visitors.

England’s Golf Coast can now lay claim to being a strong competitor to the likes of Ireland and Scotland as the most popular golfing destination in the UK & Ireland. With such illustrious Open Championship venues as Royal Liverpool, Royal Birkdale and Royal Lytham that are backed up by such other reputable gems as Formby, Hillside, Southport & Ainsdale, Silloth-on-Solway and West Lancashire it’s hard to see why any golfer would want leave the country for his golfing holiday.

For more information on England’s Golf Coast please visit our website at www.englandsgolfcoast.com or contact Neil Gray at GMS on +44 (0) 1438 718399 or E-mail neil@gmsgolf.co.uk

The unique attraction and challenge of englandsgolfcoast will be promoted around the world via a website launched to coincide with this year's return of the Open Championship to Merseyside.

Famous and historic courses - led by the region's three Royals - are at the centre of a worldwide marketing campaign promoting England's Northwest as the country's premier golf destination.

The latest phase of the englandsgolfcoast campaign aims to build on the existing £10m a year economic impact golf has on the region's economy.

Merseyside, Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria courses are all featured on the website operated by The Mersey Partnership (TMP) on behalf of partners led by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), which funds the campaign.

The revamped website (www.englandsgolfcoast.com) will assist visitors to the region to plan every aspect of their golfing break.
For the first time, they will be able to book their accommodation online and check the latest details of events; submit their own golf course ratings and obtain details of how to book venues.

Charlie Grimley, recently appointed englandsgolfcoast Golf Development Manager at TMP said: "We currently receive an average of more than 100,000 web hits per month. Around 17,000 of these are from the USA, underlining the fact that there is huge interest for our golf offer in that massive market and elsewhere in the world."

He added: "The return of the Open to Royal Liverpool means the region will once again become the focal point of the golfing world. As well as the 200,000 spectators heading for Hoylake, we will be reaching a massive television audience around the world."

The englandsgolfcoast campaign was devised to target golfers both in the UK and key markets in Europe and North America as a way of boosting golf tourism and the economic regeneration of the region.

Peter Mearns, Director of Marketing at the Northwest Regional Development Agency, said: "England's Northwest has always been regarded as one of Britain's premier golfing regions, but it was not until it came under the englandsgolfcoast banner that it has been marketed as one entity. The NWDA is pleased to support the campaign, which will prompt many of this July's visitors to return to the region before The Open returns to Royal Birkdale in 2008."

"Most golfers are aware of the three Open Championship venues in England's Northwest - Royal Liverpool, Royal Birkdale and Royal Lytham and St Annes," added Charlie Grimley, "But few realise how many other great courses we have to offer. Under the golf coast brand we highlight not only the Royals but 16 other courses in the region."

Group Captain Christopher Moore, Secretary of Royal Liverpool Golf Club said: "The North West can justifiably claim to be England's Golf Coast as it abounds with a wide range of top quality courses, three of which are Open Championship venues.  The area provides a wonderful challenge to all golfing enthusiasts."

The campaign will have a strong presence at the Open later this month with a major stand in the on-course exhibition area where enthusiasts from all over the world will be able to learn more about englandsgolfcoast venues and the new website.
Ends

Note to Editors:
1) Image and englandsgolfcoast logo attached. Copyright: Free
2) Caption: englandsgolfcoast Golf Development Manager Charlie Grimley (dark jacket) and Royal Liverpool Golf Club Secretary Group Captain Chrisopher Moore (light jacket) view englandsgolfcoast.com at  Hoylake - the home of this year's Open Championship

For more information contact Neil Gray at GMS on +44 (0) 1438 718399 or E-mail neil@gmsgolf.co.uk