World Golf Awards name Clearwater Golf Course best in New Zealand
Clearwater Golf Course in Christchurch was this week named the best course in New Zealand for the second consecutive year at the annual World Golf Awards in Portugal. It won over nominations from nearly all of Golf Tourism New Zealand’s marquee golf courses.
World Golf Awards serves to celebrate and reward excellence in golf tourism, world class courses and golf destinations. Votes are made by professionals working within the golf travel and tourism industry – senior executives, travel buyers, tour operators, agents and media professionals. Votes may also be cast by the public (golf tourism consumers).
World Golf Awards Managing Director Christopher Frost said: “It is an honour for us to recognise Clearwater Golf Course with the title of New Zealand’s Leading Golf Course. With golf hospitality on an unstoppable rise around the world, with more people choosing to play each year, it is destinations such as this which set the global benchmark for the industry. My sincere congratulations to everybody at Clearwater Golf Course and the best of luck for the rest of the summer season in New Zealand.”
On top of collecting this prestigious award for the second year in a row, following on from Cape Kidnappers win in 2014, it achieved a rare double by taking out also for the second year in a row the title of best course in Oceania beating the best from Australia (Royal Melbourne West Course) and Fiji (Natadola Bay).
New Zealand also beat out Australia and Fiji for the Best Golfing Destination in Oceania. A feat noticed by keen golfer Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism John Key, “I am extremely pleased to see our New Zealand golf courses being recognised on the international stage by our tourism partners in these awards. The growth in our inbound golf travellers has positive spin offs throughout the country.”
Ryan Brandenburg of Tourism New Zealand also commented, “We are thrilled that for the second year in a row Clearwater has been recognised as one of the best golf destinations in the world. As our country’s golf tourism continues to grow, it is vital that our courses meet and exceed the needs of international visitors, and clearly Clearwater is delivering.”
A very proud Clearwater General Manager, Andrew Bell noted, “We are extremely honoured The World Golf Awards have again recognised the focus that the Clearwater Golf course team put in to all aspects of our visitor experience. The course itself has an outstanding record as the premier venue for international professional championship golf with 15 events staged since the course opened in 2002. By focusing on treating every visitor as a member of the club for the day we believe that we now offer a unique product which the travel and tourism industry are clearly supporting.”
