Amendoeira’s new star

Tiago Francisco began working in the golf sector as soon as he’d finished high school. It was the beginning of a lifetime’s passion. He trained in Tourism and Hotel Management at night, and by day worked in the golf industry. Today, he’s the man in charge of Amendoeira Golf - a development that covers three golf courses and involves a workforce of around 30 people.

vivalgarve: Tell us a little about the courses you run.

Tiago Francisco: There are three of them right now: Oceanico Faldo course, Oceanico O’Connor Jnr and Oceanico Academy - this last one is a smaller pitch and putt course - more of a social game, that takes an hour and nine holes to complete. It’s actually a new idea. There aren’t many in Portugal. But what makes us stand out though is our dedication to quality - sometimes without regard to the effort involved. Our fairways and greens have to be immaculate.

You began working at Amendoeira Golf at the end of 2008. What has happened since then?

This whole project began just at the beginning of the so-called world economic crisis. It changed our whole outlook. Suddenly, we were faced with the prospect of our targeted clients encountering difficulties - as the resort was designed with the Irish market in mind. So, we had to minimise costs and maximise everything here to sell and try and expand into other markets: the English one, that has been one of the strongest, and now, very surprisingly, the German market.

So the German market is growing?

Yes! They don’t seem to be dogged by the same financial problems that we’ve seen in the English and Irish markets or, put it another way, there is still a surprising amount of purchasing power in Germany, even in the middle of this crisis. There was a lot of talk of new markets that would emerge, but in fact the German market has really warmed to the Amendoeira courses - so much so that our employees are now all learning the language!

So human resource training is important to you?

It’s fundamental - and we also try to keep our staff up-to-date with everything and interested. We attempt to stimulate them intellectually about what they’re doing - giving them support and showing them that they are very important. I can say that perhaps 100 per cent of our work would not be possible without a motivated, interested, kind, warm-hearted, communicative staff - able to talk to people in various different languages. You could have the best courses in the world, but if the service is bad, people will stop coming. What is the golfer looking for, after all? A dream! We have to bear that in mind. We try to surprise our clients, and that’s also a new concept in Portugal!

How long, on average, does a golfer spend with you?

A game on the Oceanico Faldo course or Oceanico O’Connor Jnr lasts four hours and 50 minutes. Then, there’s the leisure aspect: the restaurant, the walks, the driving range. When someone comes here for a visit, they can spend practically the whole day here - between six and eight hours.

What do your clients say?

Dealing with clients involves a lot of interesting aspects. Everyday we get people of all nationalities - from China, the US, Sweden, just to give a few examples. Every culture has a different way of behaving. Our service is personalised. We take care to accompany our clients from the begining to the end of their game. At the end, we get the so-called “customer feedback”, and we’re constantly evaluating what our clients have to tell us. Right now, we’re ranking between a “4” and a “5”, which means between “good” and “very good”. We’re on the right path...

Have you got a lot of bookings for the coming months?

In golf, the market is complex. There are tour operators, hotels, travel agents and nowdays golfers themselves looking for alternatives, to save money. These days, we get more and more bookings made online, from one day to another. One day, for example, we can have 80 people booked up, and then the next day, we’ll get 120. This is because people often wait for the last minute, to get the best prices.

As we’re still relatively new, we’re not yet autonomous. Our sales and reservations department - which is the same one for all Oceanico group courses - sends a lot of golfers to us from Vilamoura, which is a very strong market, so that we get extra business.

Is there a typical client?

The English golfer - who is really the typical player, represents 80 per cent of our clientele. It’s interesting that golf has started to become global. Now, the Portuguese golfer is one of the clients that turns up most at Amendoeira.

But golf in the Algarve is facing competition from other markets, like Turkey. What’s your take on the situation?

I don’t want to speak badly of it, but Turkey has already started to put its golf prices up and feedback is definitely not as good as it was a year back. People like to travel to a country that is safe - and our Algarve is still seen as safe. Outside Europe there are all sorts of problems: terrorism and related conflicts particularly, and this worries people.

Turkish courses may be good but what is the point if people are scared to leave their hotel after dark for a night out, for example? English golfers particularly, don’t want to run that kind of risk. They want to be able enjoy themselves without any trouble - and, in this regard, the Portuguese people and environment is unbeatable for hospitality.

And what about southern Spain?

It has some wonderful golf courses. It’s a much larger market, with a lot to offer, in upper and lower price brackets - but I think when it comes to hospitality, we’re better. We’ve been used to dealing with foreigners for a lot longer than the Spanish.

What are your hopes for 2010/ 2011?

We’re not expecting an easy year - you only have to look at what is happening within this country to realise that - but we are only three years old and we’ve already survived a devastating crisis without having to fire anyone, and with positive results! We know there are going to be increases in taxes, but we can’t give up now.

Anything new lined up?

Well, we’re very inclined towards professional football as well. Our resort has an absolutely new 11-a-side grass pitch in tip-top condition. We’ve already had Aston Villa and Sunderland teams over, and they loved it. It’s one of our initiatives for the future. This is an exclusive resort with around 250 houses and it’s perfectly possible to have two football teams visiting at any one time, in total privacy. There are also plans to build a hotel, but realistically we cannot tell when that investment take place.

So there’s a future for golf in the Algarve?

I certainly think so! We’re privileged with the climate here, and we’re getting to the ideal situation now. It’s not about having lots of courses in the region - but having quality and diversity, which is what clients are looking for. We know that golfers don’t just want to play on our courses - they want to try others too.

Thus, I hope our competition is also good - because if a golfer plays with us one day, and then goes to another course the next, and if he has a bad experience on either day, he’ll think twice before returning to the Algarve. In that respect, we are all interlinked, and we have to develop a common attitude. It’s good for us all to be good but obviously it is our intention to be the best!