2015’s Scottish Open nets over £140m cash injection

A new study by tournament organisers R&A has revealed that The Open championship, hosted in Scotland last year, gave Scotland a £140 million economic boost, a new record total for UK and Irish golfing tournaments.

The 144th Open Championship was hosted in St Andrews last year, where American Zach Johnson took home the Claret Jug. Spectators for the event topped over 235,000 during the course of the tournament, and Fife town was visited by over 93,000 people - with international fans in excess of 26,000.

The study by R&A revealed that, during the course of the event, visitors for the Open generated £88 million, which is almost double that of the total from the last time the Open visited the Old Course, back in 2010. Even more revenue was generated by marketing benefits which, in total, realised a further £52 million through broadcasting events to over 500 million households worldwide.

Hoylake hosted the Open championship the year previously, and welcomed over 203,000 fans during the event which, whilst being up from the previous year, has reinforced the continued importance of golf to Scotland. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “We all know that golf and its origins are synonymous with Scotland but these excellent figures show that the connection between the game is as strong and productive as ever.”

Not only has the event seen a massive increase in overseas visitors, which made up over 28% of the total, but the area can look forward to increased tourism from positive experiences in the country. More than two thirds of the total visitors, and 80% of visitors from the UK, said that they would expect to return to Scotland within a year. Golf enthusiasts may well have an even greater incentive, with the Open set to return to Scotland in 2016, this time in Royal Troon.

Martin Slumbers, the R&A chief executive said: “The R&A brings the Open to Scotland more often than to any other part of the UK and we are delighted that a long association with VisitScotland produces measureable and sustained benefits for the economy.”