Short of the green : Golf as an economic development tool on Prince Edward Island

The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: Section 2 provides some facts and figures on the growth (and decline) of the game in PEI and more broadly throughout the rest of Canada and the United States Section 3 discusses the various tools and initiatives that the provincial government used to pursue its economic development objectives Section 4 looks more closely at the assumptions [...] The projections at the beginning of this era were even rosier, with the National Golf Foundation stating in the late 1980s that, in order to keep pace with the number of new golfers taking up the game, one new golf course would need to be opened in the United States each day 5 through to the year 2000. [...] In addition to the Island’s natural assets of topography and scenery, and the general growth of the game throughout North America, the Confederation Bridge was set to open in 1997 and a Canadian dollar that spent most of the 1990s below US$0.85 (falling as low as US$0.64 at one point) was expected to induce Americans to visit and Canadians to take their vacations close to home. [...] The 2002 report of the provincial Auditor General noted that the government had received a consultant’s report in June 2000 warning of market saturation: The report provided an analysis of the golf market in the Province including supply and demand. [...] The provincial government became involved as it attempted to generate tourism and economic development in the eastern and western ends of the province with the opening of, respectively, the Brudenell course and resort in 1969 and the Mill River course and resort in 1971.