County gets worldwide TV audience

Editorial Department • Published 22 Jul 2010 16:00 0 Comments

See also:

McIlroy on early birdie trail

Fermanagh was on display to a worldwide audience on Wednesday, with some of the world's greatest golfers giving a showcase to the beauty of Lough Erne Golf Resort.

Thousands of spectators lined the fairways to witness Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry produce a golfing exhibition that thrilled the gallery, but it is the worldwide exposure generated by the television coverage that will provide the county with a huge tourism boost.

Among the celeb spectators who are part of that gallery at the Lough Erne resort yesterday were actor James Nesbitt and former footballer Pat Jennings.

Last year's event attracted a worldwide television audience of 300 million, and with Sky Sports covering the challenge once again it is another opportunity for the watching world to see what Lough Erne and Fermanagh has to offer. Tanya Cathcart of Fermanagh Lakeland Tourism is confident that the exposure will have benefits for the entire county. "Since the resort opened it has generated a lot of interest, especially the international market, and the additional visitors that events like this bring will obviously have an effect on the rest of the county," she said. "People will come to enjoy the event and the golf but obviously they spend time in Fermanagh as well, so the economic benefit is seen in other parts of the county. We are very lucky that we have such a high quality golf resort in the region, because it is bringing in visitors that we perhaps wouldn't have got otherwise."

The stretch of land bordering Castle Hume Lough and Lough Erne has come a long way in a short period of time. A few years ago it was simply a field overlooking Castle Hume Golf Course, but since then it has developed into one of the most talked about golf courses and resorts in Ireland and beyond. The progression is not at an end however, and owner Jim Treacy has a vision for the future which involves Lough Erne establishing itself as one of the world's premier holiday locations. Talks in the past have centred on the possibility of hosting a PGA European Tour event at the venue, but in the current economic climate that plan has been put on the backburner. "A European tour event isn't in my mind at the moment," said Jim. "We know the course is without doubt good enough because we have Faldo behind it we've had very good feedback from the golfers, but those events are big massive events that rely on sponsorship and sponsorship is quite difficult in the present circumstances."

The Lough Erne Challenge is another method by which he is hoping to spread the Lough Erne message. "The match is a promotional tool to send the resort out all over the world," explained Jim. "Last year's match went out worldwide, and I would meet people in all sorts of places that have said they saw the match on television. This is a business that takes time to grow and it's a question of developing on what we have already established. You can never say exactly where they came from, but we have to keep promoting the place and events like this help to keep the flag flying."

See page 18A for full colour coverage of the Lough Erne Challenge.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 22 Jul 10

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.