The recent collapse of Visit Kent and Visit Cornwall has raised understandable concerns within the wider tourism sector, but for golf in these counties, the immediate impact is limited. Kent and Cornwall’s golf offering remains strong, their courses continue to attract visitors, and tour operators will still promote both regions as part of their UK programmes.
However, the deeper issue is not the fate of these two organisations, but what their demise represents: a continued lack of meaningful support for tourism from central government.
Tourism is one of the UK’s most valuable service industries. It drives revenue into local economies, sustains jobs, underpins hospitality, and supports long-term career pathways for thousands of people. Despite this, government decisions in recent months — including a staggering 45% cut to national tourism marketing budgets — make it clear that tourism is not being treated as the economic engine it truly is.
In the cases of Visit Kent and Visit Cornwall, both organisations were led by capable people with genuine passion for their regions. Yet passion alone cannot replace commercial resilience. When government support evaporates, destination-marketing organisations must have strong, diversified revenue models in place to survive. Neither organisation appears to have developed the commercial structure required to weather sustained public-funding cuts, leading to an outcome that is disappointing but not entirely surprising.
What this means for golf
For golf clubs and resorts, the day-to-day reality changes very little:
- Tour operators will continue to sell Kent and Cornwall as part of their England itineraries.
- Golfers will still travel to play links and coastal courses in both counties.
- Clubs retain established direct relationships with the trade, which do not rely on regional tourism bodies.
The fairways remain open, attractive, and in demand.
But the long-term picture matters
Where the absence of a DMO will be felt is in the broader narrative of the destination. Without an organisation actively promoting the region, opportunities for golf to be integrated into wider tourism messaging — culture, food, landscape, adventure — may diminish. Major FAM trips, international media attention, and destination-led campaigns also become more difficult to coordinate.
This is the real loss: not the ability of golf clubs to operate, but the ability of a region’s full tourism ecosystem to tell a coherent, compelling story.
