Golf PEI gets nearly $600K for rebranding

The federal and provincial governments are helping Golf PEIrebrandand improve its marketing with an infusion of$579,393.

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ACOA's business development program will contribute $351,393 over two years and the P.E.I. government is providing $228,000 to GolfPEI'smarketing plan for 2016-17, according to a written release fromACOA.

GolfPEI is working to establish a stronger online, on-site and TV presence to attract golfers to P.E.I., especially from Ontario,Qubec, Alberta and the northern U.S.. The goal is to promote the more than two dozen Island courses while highlighting other P.E.I. attractions.

"P.E.I. is a golfer's paradise and while our clients come to play, they're also here to eat, sleep, shop, and explore. They take these memories back to family and friends and prepare for repeat visits,"GolfPEIexecutive director MarkMcLane said in the release.

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Still looking for buyers

P.E.I. calls itself Canada's number one golf destination, but it's no secret that golf is not the draw it used to be for Island tourism.

Back in 2012, Tourism P.E.I. handed out $60,000 for almost 600 free golf passes to promote the Island as a golf destination, a practice the tourism minister at the time said was common.

Last year, a report by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies said the P.E.I. government's investment in golf in the 1990s did not have the expected economic impact, saying out the government is still deeply in debt 25 years after spending millions of dollars to build and operate golf courses. The province agreed with the AIMS report.

The province has been trying to find buyers its four courses Mill River, Brudenell, Dundaraveand CrowbushCovesince 2007.

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