As in many more serious areas of life, Covid came through the UK and Ireland golf travel industry like a wrecking ball, with a devastating effect on the courses, hoteliers and transport providers supported by North American golfers traveling east.
Livelihoods were at stake. I myself was in the middle. Two entire seasons – 2020 and 2021 – of travel rescheduling for extremely understanding patient clients and suppliers, who all worked to make sure dream trips came true, albeit two years late in some cases.
On the ground, 2022 wasn’t much better. While most golfers continued with travel plans, barely a week went by where there wasn’t some kind of testing hiccup: phone calls hours before arrival reporting a positive Covid test; the isolation measures that came with it. Added to that, we were essentially cramming three years of travel into one – serious stress in itself.
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Top 6 Golf Resorts in Scotland, England and Wales | Top 100 GOLF Resorts
GOLF editors
Since those dark days at the dawn of the decade, the industry has revived like never before. Green fees on bed courses are up 10 to 15 percent year over year (a story for another time), with little or no sign of demand slowing. The golf travel industry is projected to be worth a staggering $42 billion by 2030. So what are the implications for your travel buddy? In short, very small windows of opportunity. Such is the recent gold rush among tour operators that the booking windows for 2027 will close much sooner than you think.
By the time you read this, overseas travelers may have already missed the boat on their bucket list such as Portrush AND Royal County Down. The West Coast of Scotland, with the world’s top 100 Trump Turnberry, The royal throne and Prestwick, may still be up for grabs – but call your tour operator of choice now, because by the end of the second quarter in 2026, most of 2027 will be sold in one of golf’s most sought-after triple threats.
The key message is that for the most sought-after places, you now need to plan 18 months in advance. Still working on a trip to 2026? There is one place where you can go and play the world’s top 100 courses every day, stay in world-class accommodations, fly direct from anywhere in the US, and be blown away by the course: England. And no one is talking about it.
Next time.
Discover England, Scotland, Ireland and beyond in 2027 and beyond with 08:00 Travel. Contact Discovery@8amtravel.com today.
