{"id":166187,"date":"2025-07-03T08:37:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T06:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mygolfway.com\/?p=166187"},"modified":"2025-07-03T08:37:27","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T06:37:27","slug":"iagto-the-rtj-golf-trail-hits-in-sweet-home-alabama-for-its-16th-north-america-golf-tourism-convention-nac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/labs.100x100.net\/projects\/mygolfway\/en\/iagto-the-rtj-golf-trail-hits-in-sweet-home-alabama-for-its-16th-north-america-golf-tourism-convention-nac\/","title":{"rendered":"IAGTO \u2013 The RTJ Golf Trail hits in Sweet Home Alabama for its 16th North America Golf Tourism Convention (NAC)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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July 3, 2025 \u2013 <\/strong>More than 300 delegates from 33 countries took Alabama\u2019s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail<\/strong> to the Deep South city of Birmingham to attend the 16th annual North America Golf Tourism Convention (NAC)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Owned and operated by IAGTO (International Association of Golf Tour Operators)<\/strong>, the event saw 70% of the participating golf tour operators and golf travel advisors coming from North America and Latin America, with the remainder travelling from Europe, Australia and Asia.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was an absolute pleasure to welcome IAGTO and its global members to Birmingham,\u201d <\/em>said Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau\u2019s President & CEO, Dan Williams<\/strong>. \u201cIt was such a fun and energising week, and we were proud to showcase our city, our golf and our Southern hospitality.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope everyone enjoyed their time here as much as we enjoyed hosting them, and we look forward to welcoming all of our new friends back to Birmingham soon.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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IAGTO Chief Executive Peter Walton<\/strong> commented: \u201cBirmingham was the perfect venue for the NAC because it lies at the heart of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, which spans the state of Alabama with some 22 amazing golf courses.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were also able to showcase much of the state from Mobile in the south to Huntsville and Muscle Shoals in the north on pre- and post-convention trips for dozens of tour operators \u2013 many of whom had never previously visited Alabama.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut the city of Birmingham delivered everything that we could have asked of it, with great restaurants all nearby and fantastic meeting venues. We were lucky enough to stage our Welcome Reception at the Protective Stadium, an impressive, multi-sport venue, and the Farewell Dinner at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, which has to be one of the most spectacular car and motorcycle marvels of the 21st century!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

NAC included two days of meetings between the golf tourism industry\u2019s buyers and suppliers, and two rounds of golf at RTJ Golf Trail\u2019s Oxmoor Valley and Ross Bridge courses, both of which are just minutes from the city centre.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have been telling the story of golf in Sweet Home Alabama over the past few years at previous NACs, emphasising our theme of \u201cthis is Alabama\u201d. Now we have been able to have IAGTO members truly experience what that looks, feels, tastes and sounds like\u2026 from our great food and variety of music to our one-of-a-kind attractions and the one-and-only original golf trail of world-class RTJ golf courses. We are so proud to have hosted everyone,\u201d<\/em> beamed Kerry Teague<\/strong>, Golf Marketing Director of the Alabama Tourism Department.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While Birmingham is often referred to as the \u201cDinner Table of the South\u201d, it also has a vibrant cultural pedigree and live music was scheduled throughout the event. The stand-out moment was a gospel choir performance by Allen Pruitt Jr and the Called to Worship Ensemble to launch the Opening Address. Other functions were accompanied by blues, soul, classical and rock musicians from the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

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Summing up the overall experience, Peter Walton<\/strong> added: \u201cThat was the most fun we have had while also showing up for our day job and putting Birmingham Alabama on the golf tourism map for the international market, while reinforcing its position as an unbeatable southern golf destination for the domestic market.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe RTJ Golf Trail, many other courses and the hotel and hospitality industry in Alabama and beyond will all reap the rewards of NAC 2025 over the coming 18 months.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July 3, 2025 \u2013 More than 300 delegates from 33 countries took Alabama\u2019s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail to the Deep South city of Birmingham to attend the 16th annual North America Golf Tourism Convention (NAC). Owned and operated by IAGTO (International Association of Golf Tour Operators), the event saw 70% of the participating golf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":166171,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,148,142,143],"tags":[766,16186],"class_list":["post-166187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf-courses","category-golf-shows-en","category-turism","category-travel","tag-iagto-en","tag-nac-2025"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.100x100.net\/projects\/mygolfway\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.100x100.net\/projects\/mygolfway\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.100x100.net\/projects\/mygolfway\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.100x100.net\/projects\/mygolfway\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.100x100.net\/projects\/mygolfway\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/labs.100x100.net\/projects\/mygolfway\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.100x100.net\/projects\/mygolfway\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.100x100.net\/projects\/mygolfway\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.100x100.net\/projects\/mygolfway\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.100x100.net\/projects\/mygolfway\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}