Skal gears up for 61st Annual Golf Tournament

Anticipation is building ahead of the 61st Skal Toronto Annual Golf Tournament, scheduled to take place this year at Royal Woodbine Golf Club on Tuesday Aug. 15, 2017. The yearly event is set to welcome over 100 tourism, hospitality, and travel industry executives for a day of fun, sportsmanship, prizes, and networking opportunities.

Kimberly Hartley, golf chair, told PAX that the event marked a unique occasion for members of the travel industry and clients alike. “It’s an excellent tournament for the travel industry,” she commented, “but also, we open it up.

“Travel agents are welcome to come, and they’re welcome to bring clients. We don’t restrict it to Skal members, we don’t restrict it to just the travel industry. It’s a great opportunity if travel agents wanted to bring a top client, for instance.”

Registration for the event kicks off at 11:00 a.m. on Aug. 15, with a BBQ lunch and warm-up station following from 11:00-12:00. The shotgun tee-off takes place at 12:30 p.m., followed by a reception and networking event at 6:00 p.m. After dinner including wine at 7:00 p.m., the event will conclude with raffle draws, a silent auction and live auction at 8:00 p.m.

Kimberly Hartley, golf chair, Skal International Toronto

For Skal members, the event is priced at $150 for the entire day’s program of events, with non-members paying $190. Guests who don’t wish to play can also enjoy dinner only for $65, while Hartley also highlighted the opportunities available for suppliers to sponsor holes: sponsorship with a foursome is priced at $900, while hole sponsorship only costs $400.

Hartley, now entering her fifth year as golf chair, said that the tournament reflected the ethos of Skal, which has more than 15,000 members worldwide, as well as representing a great opportunity for agents to network. “Our slogan is ‘doing business with friends,’” she remarked.

“That’s the mantra of Skal International. Our Skal toast, which we open every monthly meeting with, is ‘happiness, good health, friendship, long life.’ That’s the worldwide toast.”

“You’re going to be networking with various suppliers,” she added. “[There’s] the whole camaraderie, being with other industry folk of like mind and being able to make new contacts; the prize aspect of it, and just the fun day. I’m a firm believer in the networking, and making contacts. I’ve been a Skal member for nearly twenty years, and being in the travel business, you know how beneficial that is.”

The tournament, which has been an annual event since Skal’s inception in 1956, also contributes towards a good cause: some cash proceeds each year from the event go towards the organization’s charity of choice, the Daily Bread Toronto Food Bank.

Hartley also emphasized the benefits of Skal for members of the travel community, noting that the organization continued to go from strength to strength in Canada. “Toronto just hosted the Skal Canada North American Conference,” she said. “We just did it in the first week of June, and it was a huge success – we had over 200 Skal members from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

“You get to take part in things like that, and the educational professional development sessions. We’re also a voice [for] the industry to the government. A lot of the things that come up in the industry that affect travel, we talk to the government about.”

Further information about Skal International is available at https://www.skal.org/, and Skal International Toronto at http://www.torontoskal.org/.