Golf resorts being upscaled in Puerto Rico

Rio Grande: The seaside stretch in Rio Grande, a half-hour's drive east of the airport in San Juan, is not placid in midday. Construction equipment rumbles through the beachfront while workers sweat out installing the marble floors and granite countertops in developer Donald Trump's latest Caribbean venture.

The 700-villa Trump International Golf Club and Residences is among several golf resorts on this Caribbean island that are either under construction or being upscaled.

Some have famous course designers like Robert Trent Jones, and many are attached to luxury resorts with well-known hotel brand names like St Regis and Mandarin Oriental.

Golf is one of three tourism niches being targeted for promotion here, along with water sports and food, said Mari Jo Laborde, deputy executive director of marketing and promotions of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company.

Golf is a big part of the island's "Explore Beyond the Shore" campaign highlighting activities outside beaches, she said. And although Puerto Rico has long been a golf destination, the combination of a growing local golf market and a drive to attract more affluent tourists is putting an emphasis on luxury.

This might seem like a risky approach given the current economic downturn. Puerto Rico, like many tourism destinations, is experiencing a drop in visitors, with a three to five per cent decline projected for the near future.

But hoteliers and course owners are hoping that a more affluent crowd will be less vulnerable to the economy's swings than the package-tour-and-cruise market concentrated around the port of San Juan.

High-end projects can also take years to come to fruition after they are planned and financed.

"They are definitely an investment in the future," said Peter Finch, senior editor at Golf Digest magazine.

"It takes years and in some cases decades to get everything lined up for these courses to open. These golf courses are major undertakings across hundreds and hundreds of acres, if not thousands of acres. You can't just snap your fingers and they appear."

In October, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and Regent Hotels & Resorts both announced they will open new luxury hotels in 2011 in Palmas del Mar, a resort southeast of San Juan with championship golf courses designed by Reese Jones and Gary Player.

Existing hotels are also raising their game with renovations and additions.