Golf Saudi drives toward a green future with help from STRI Group: STRI Group, the world’s leading sports surface provider, is delighted to announce that it is supporting Golf Saudi in the creation of a regional and a national strategy for the development of golf courses.

The strategies are being prepared to inform golf course developers about the particulars of golf course construction in Saudi Arabia with regard to the environment, turf management, water management and materials selection.

Golf Saudi unveiled its progressive environmental strategy during tournament week of the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers. During the first day of press conferences, Majed Al-Sorour, CEO of the Saudi Golf Federation outlined a series of initiatives the group have put in place over the last twelve months, with particular reference to its pioneering environmental initiatives.

“It has been a productive twelve months, but we have only just begun,” commented Al-Sorour. “A key driver has been our environmental strategy; bringing together a consortium of industry leaders to develop a national policy that will propel Saudi Arabia to the forefront of environmental development. It is of paramount importance to our national transformation and is a top priority.”

The environmental strategy to date has seen Golf Saudi align with Golf Environment Organisation (GEO) in order to develop a national program that advises and informs on best-practice across new developments. The initiative will adopt a comprehensive approach with an overarching mission to instil a culture of environmental and ecological innovation. GEO will collaborate with STRI to help achieve sustainability goals for; low carbon, resource efficient and ecologically rich golf courses, which are supported by new knowledge and expertise that will drive delivery. The aim is to create the most robust and progressive environmental and soil science strategy in world golf.

Lee Penrose, STRI Group director, said: “STRI is delighted to be selected to support Golf Saudi in the development of a sustainable strategy for golf.

“STRI has provided sports surface solutions and cutting edge research for over 90 years, and we are looking forward to being able to apply our extensive knowledge and expertise in Saudi Arabia to help inspire and guide golf course development.”

In the same vein, a unique turf business has been created, drawing on the expertise and resource of Atlas Turf International Ltd to create a turf farm in the Kingdom that meets international sustainability standards, supplying all Golf Saudi developments and landscaping projects with necessary turf requirements, thereby minimising transportation and providing adapted grasses that require the lowest amounts of reclaimed water and other inputs, whilst delivering highest quality standards.

Al-Sorour continued; “Our objective is to create an ecosystem for golf in Saudi Arabia. Ensuring that we can deal with a range of factors including tourism, job creation, sustainability and any environmental concerns. Hosting events such as the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers has allowed us to not only lay down initial infrastructure but to also gain more exposure around the world, so people can begin to realise that we are serious about becoming a destination for golfers.”

To build on the initial progress made by Golf Saudi in its first year, a business summit is being held next week, taking place in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 2-4 February, 2020. The Golf Saudi Summit will welcome government ministers, senior executives along with former players to give their take on the future of the game. Attendees will have the unique opportunity to tap into Golf Saudi’s development directly, through a series of panels, discussions and networking opportunities focused on real estate, corporate, tourism and business-to-business affairs.

“Our ambition is to showcase Saudi Arabia’s progress to date, ensuring golf plays a major part in delivering Vision 2030, including the positive socio-economic output of our golf investment,” continued Al Sorour. “The summit will bring industry leaders together to debate key topics, whilst engaging with Saudi stakeholders. This will create the best platform to do business and allow us to further our objectives.”

To ensure Golf Saudi achieves its aims, the organisation has set a series of targets it would like to achieve by 2030. Set out against the designated five core pillars, some of these include: increasing golf club membership to 20,000, ensuring over one million Saudis have actively tried golf, attract at least 5,000 international golf visitors per annum, host 60,000 visitors to Saudi-based golfing events every year and oversee the construction of over twenty new golf courses.

At the heart of Golf Saudi’s strategy is innovation and best practice. This pioneering spirit is a key requisite for the country’s cutting-edge strategy and will be a statement of intent for what Golf Saudi aims to achieve with its dynamic golf development programme.

For further information Golf Saudi, please visit: www.golfsaudi.com

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SALTEX proves good for business: Findings from the SALTEX 2019 post-show exhibitor survey have confirmed that the 2019 event was extremely valuable for a high percentage of groundscare exhibitors – New sales leads acquired by 96% of exhibitors.

In fact it was deemed so successful that more than half of exhibitors reserved their space for the 2020 event before the end of the 2019 show and organisers have since reported a record number of repeat business, stand upgrades and an influx of debut exhibitors – with more than 200 companies committing to SALTEX 2020.

The survey findings confirm that 96 per cent of survey respondents generated new sales leads and 82 per cent have already taken orders as a direct result of exhibiting at the show. The record-breaking 9,104 attendance was rated as excellent by 85 per cent of exhibitors and, crucially, the quality of visitors scored 91 per cent.

Derek Smith, amenity sales and marketing manager for DLF Johnsons Sports Seed, was particularly impressed with the number of international visitors: “We’ve had a fantastic show again this year. It was the busiest we’ve experienced for many years. It was great to see the diversity of visitors – particularly from outside the UK, which was great for us.”

SALTEX is the official annual meeting place for the groundscare community. More than 500 groundscare brands were showcased at SALTEX 2019 and 83 per cent of survey respondents claimed the launches proved to be hugely successful.

According to Reesink Turfcare managing director David Cole SALTEX was the ideal platform to introduce new products to the international groundscare market. “We used SALTEX to launch new products and had a great reaction this year. The progressive development of the show at the NEC and enhanced access to the potential customers is improving year on year,” he said.

Craig Hoare, sales and marketing manager for Hayter and Toro, says that SALTEX presents an unmissable opportunity to showcase the company’s product range to a relevant audience.

“SALTEX offers a great opportunity to connect with our customers and dealers. There is such a broad spectrum of visitors – from independent landscapers through to large sports clubs and amenity operators. SALTEX just keeps getting better and better.”

Long-term SALTEX exhibitors’ views confirm that SALTEX is the leading event in groundscare.

“We’ve exhibited at SALTEX for many years and believe that the show is the number one in the marketplace for us,” said Roger Moore, sales and marketing manager at Dennis and SISIS. “SALTEX 2019 was a huge success for us. The show was incredible regarding the number of visitors coming through the doors and the new and existing customers visiting our stand.”

The survey also revealed a fascinating insight into SALTEX’s extensive range of exhibitors, which included 22 companies from outside of the UK, covering a broad range of groundscare categories:

• Machinery and hand tools – 54 per cent
• Sports surfaces and facilities – 29 per cent
• Landscaping – 26 per cent
• Seeds, turf and aggregates – 25 per cent
• Arboriculture and horticulture – 17 per cent
• Commercial vehicles – 13 per cent
• Security, health and safety – 10 per cent
• Play, street and furniture – 5 per cent
• Synthetic turf – 4 per cent

In addition, it was also encouraging to see that 89 per cent of exhibitors felt that the UK’s decision to leave the EU will not affect their business.

This year, the exhibition will be celebrating its 75th anniversary and 93 per cent of survey respondents confirmed that they will be returning to exhibit at SALTEX 2020.

SALTEX 2020 will take place at the NEC, Birmingham on 4 and 5 November.

For more information visit www.iogsaltex.com  

 

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