The Golf Players' Motivations: The Algarve Case 1

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to investigate the motivations behind golf demand in the Algarve — one of Europe's most popular golf destinations. The research is based on the results of a survey on the golf demand of Algarve's golf courses, held in 2002. In order to identify the main motives behind golf demand in the region, a principal components analysis was performed. Four main choice factors were identified to explain the selection of Algarve's golf courses. The first was designated social environment and is associated with motives such as events and beaches. The second, leisure, is related to restaurants and bars, landscape, weather and accommodation. The third, entitled golf, is directly related to characteristics of courses. The fourth, logistics, is associated with variables such as price and accessibility. It is also found, through a cluster analysis that the choice factors can be associated with three market segments: the tourist golfer, who is mostly concerned with the golf courses and the game; the householder golfer, essentially centred on accommodation, gastronomy, landscape, weather, price and accessibility; and finally, the sun-beach tourist, who is mostly interested in tourist opportunities.