Looking at Costa Navarino on World Tourism Day

Golf Tourism: Trips undertaken by persons for which the main purpose is to play golf.

You probably didn't know this, but today is World Tourism Day. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of the role of tourism within the international community and to show how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide. I've got to admit, I rarely think about those things when I take a trip.

This "awareness day" might be a good time to look a little more closely at golf tourism which is being developed in more places than ever... often countries with little golf history, and not known for golf travel.

I experienced this on my recent trip to Greece where, up till recently, there had been little thought given to golf...or golf tourists. Greece is known for beautiful beaches and typical island villages, but with only one course serving the 4 million Athenians... and just four others, widely scattered across the country... golfers weren't exactly being courted.

That's clearly changing, however. The infrastructure development that took place leading up to the the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, as well as the exposure that came with international coverage of the games, finally set the stage for golf resort development, and the Spring 2010 opening of Troon Golf's Navarino Dunes, in the Southwest Peloponnese on the Ionian Sea, will be our first glimpse of Greece as an international golf destination.

The course, designed by Hall of Fame golfer Bernhard Langer, will be one of two. It'll be followed by Navarino Bay, signed: Robert Trent Jones II. The courses will be a mere three miles apart, yet dramatically different, each taking advantage of natural attributes in the stunning coastal landscape. Each will have its own clubhouse and golf academy, and the development will include residential real estate as well as cluster of top hotels, including Westin, Banyan Tree and Luxury Collection.

This particular type of development can impact a region - both positively and negatively - more than any other type, with its inherent environmental alterations, water usage issues and traffic implications, and it's reassuring to see that the development company, TEMES SA, is committed to creating something overwhelmingly positive. They're working in conjunction with a number of environmental organizations to protect the natural setting and highlight the region’s unique beauty, the collective aim being to ensure that Costa Navarino becomes a true ecotourism destination, and a catalyst for protection of the environment. A laudable goal and one to celebrate on World Tourism Day.

I'll be bringing you updates on Costa Navarino over the next several months, and hopefully a firsthand look once it opens for golf in late Spring. In the meantime you can follow Costa Navarino yourself on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. You may just decide to make Greece your next golf travel destination.

Greece Welcomes Discerning Golfers Despite Debt Crisis

It's been a tumultuous couple of weeks for Greece. ~ The sun-soaked Aegean nation, normally thought of as the ideal destination for a romantic vacation, has quickly become an international symbol of debt and desperation.

The fact is, Greece is having difficulties servicing its sovereign debt, and though most of us don't understand exactly what that means, everyone seems to be talking about it. ~ A few nights ago, Jay Leno even compared it to...gulp... California. ...as in:

Greece is a relatively small country. It would be like a state over here. But it over-spends, it over-borrows, it promises expensive pension plans, it over-taxes, it over-regulates business. ... So, over here it would be the state of California.

The "Greece worries" reached a crescendo last week with angry protests in the streets of Athens. An EU/IMF bailout followed, and the world has been a-buzz over the descending Euro, ever since.

Meanwhile, Troon Golf's Navarino Dunes, an impressive seaside course designed by Hall of Fame golf champion Bernhard Langer, is set to open in two weeks as the first stage in the development of Costa Navarino and will launch Greece as an international golf destination. The Romanos, a Starwoods Luxury Collection Hotel will open at the same time and offer the finest accommodations and the most sumptuous spa.

In light of recent news reports, a Greek golf vacation may at first glance seem implausible to many in the Americas, but on the contrary, the one great upside to the weaker Euro is that European vacations are going to be substantially less expensive this summer. At least 15% - 20% cheaper. ~ WorldGolf's Brandon Tucker wrote about this in regards to Ireland earlier this month... and it certainly applies to Greece.

Meanwhile, tourism... which in Greece accounts for 15% of GDP and employs over 10% of the population... has been identified as one of the key areas for early recovery.

This has prompted an initiative among Greek hotel owners and tour operators to improve their services and offer more value to customers. In addition, Greece is one of the safest destinations in the world and its tourism infrastructure and amenities are have been world class since the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. And they're saying that foreign demand could prove key to hauling the country out of its debt crisis.

Navarino Dunes is located in Messinia in the Southwest Peloponnese on the incredibly clear, amazingly blue Ionian Sea. It's an area untouched until now by mass tourism. In addition to a spectacular costal setting, the area is home to palaces from the Mycenaean era, classical temples, Byzantine churches and medieval castles.

The developers of of Costa Navarino, TEMES, SA, are working in conjunction with a number of environmental organizations to create a true eco-tourism destination, and a catalyst for protection of the pristine environment.

It is inevitable that prospective travelers to Greece worry when they see images of protesters and read articles about disturbances in Athens. However it's important to note that the disruptions are localized in just small section of the center of the city.

I'll be going to Costa Navarino sometime this summer and I look forward to documenting everything. In the meantime, I urge everyone to consider a trip to this spectacular part of the world.

Start by following on Facebook and Twitter.

Navarino Dunes Revealed - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12

Not surprisingly, the recent release of EA Sports' spectacular new Tiger Woods game was all about Augusta National.  After all, even the most casual golf fan is intrigued by the Masters and by the cloistered, velvety-green sanctuary of a course that hosts it each year.

But the latest edition of the Tiger Woods franchise features a number of other new courses as well. These will undoubtedly be discovered and enjoyed by gamers of all stripes as the novelty of strategizing Amen Corner and winning the green jackets wears off (I imagine it does wear off eventually?)

One of the newly featured courses, is Navarino Dunes at Costa Navarino, the naiscent eco-resort complex on the southwest coast of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece.

For Bernhard Langer, Global Golf is Second Nature

Winning two majors... back-to-back... is an extraordinary feat in and of itself, but throw an ocean, a continent, and an eight hour time difference between them and it becomes a once-in-history achievement.

That Bernhard Langer is the one who did it, demonstrates not only the stellar level of his current game, but also perhaps the fact that the German hall-of-famer has developed a particular skill set that allows him to handle a truly international career ... and remain at his best even while traveling the globe.

When flying transatlantic in either direction it's easy to get terribly out-of-sync sleep-wise... and once that happens it can take days to fix. Just imagine trying to play in a top competitive golf tournament when you can't sleep at night and can't stay awake during the day. ~ Keeping balanced is trickier than it sounds too, because when it comes to jet-lag there's really no one formula that works for everyone. It's one of those things where you just have to know yourself and proceed accordingly. ~ I know from my own experience that it's something you get better at the more you do it... and Bernhard Langer does it a lot. Not only does he play on the ultra-global European Tour, he also designs golf courses all over the world, with projects in the Far East, Africa and Europe. His latest venture is the spectacular Navarino Dunes golf course in the southwestern Peloponnese region of Greece. It opened in early summer and Langer reportedly made numerous visits to Greece during its construction.

Those visits paid off in a stunning course. They may have also helped the globetrotting golfer better prepare himself for his back-to-back wins.