The PGA in Puerto Rico

by Sailing Through Life In My Boatshoes

One audience that is increasing in population in the United States and more difficult to reach is the Latino/Hispanic demographic.

According to the US Census, the Hispanic population increased by 15.2 million between 2000 and 2010. Also, “More than half of the growth in the total population of the United States between 2000 and 2010 was due to the increase in the Hispanic population.”

So what can companies do to respond to this growing target audience? One example of an organization that is reaching out to this population is the Professional Golf Association.

On Wednesday, May 2, the PGA announced the schedule of a new Latin America tour. The Latinoamerica Tour will take place in Puerto Rico from Nov. 12-18. PGA’s tour commissioner, Tim Finchem,

Photo From Flckr. User “chispita_666”

spoke about the tour saying, “The Latin American market has already produced several PGA Tour stars, and one of our goals for this tour is to help develop the Latin American stars of the future.”

Puerto Ricans are the second largest Hispanic population in the United States, consisting of 3,406,178 people in 2010. It is a smart move by the PGA to have the location of the tour in Puerto Rico. Larry Bohannan states on his golf blog, mydesert.com, “The Latinoamerica Tour could be the spark for growth of the game in Central and South America, an area that is already starting to be the focus of the golf world with the game to debut in the Summer Olympics in Brazil in 2016.” The PGA’s main goal with this campaign is to spread the game of golf into the Latin American countries.

This tour is also important because of the vast number of Hispanics/Latin Americans and also because of their power in the economy. According to Christine Cube, writer for PRNewswire.com, “Hispanics in the marketplace today represent $1.2 trillion in purchasing power.” The Hispanic/Latino population is an untapped market of opportunity. The PGA is taking a step in the right direction for this target market and connecting to this audience in a unique way by promoting a golf tour in the home country of the audience.

Sources:

Bohannan, Larry. “PGA Tour Announces Latinoamerica Tour Schedule.” Larry Bohannan’s Golf Blog. Mydesert.com, 2 May  2012. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://golf.blogs.mydesert.com/2012/05/02/pga-tour-announced-latinoamerica-tour-schedule/&gt;.

Cube, Christine. “Reaching & Engaging US Hispanics Online.” Beyond PR. PR Newswire, 7 Apr. 2012. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://blog.prnewswire.com/2012/04/17/reaching-engaging-us-hispanics-online/&gt;.

“Tim Finchem Q&A regarding PGA TOUR Latinoamerica.” PGATOUR. Professional Golf Association, 02 May 2012. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://www.pgatour.com/2012/r/05/02/latinoamerica-finchem/index.html&gt;.

“USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau.” USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. U.S. Census. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html&gt;.