Event will be a costly business for fans

Ryder Cup fans visiting Ireland for the 2006 event will pay top prices for accommodation during the competition.

The Europe versus US golf tournament comes to Ireland in September and is expected to attract 40,000 visitors a day. It will be worth an estimated €130 million to the economy.

But those who visit for the 36th Ryder Cup may not be keen to return after paying high prices for travel packages and accommodation.

Ryder Cup Travel Services (RCTS), the official tournament travel agent in Europe, is selling 6,000 packages to the event.

Golf fans are paying a top price of €7,120 for a five-day package, which includes accommodation in an executive room in five-star hotel Dromoland Castle with tickets for the event, transport to and from the K Club, a "celebration evening" and a Ryder Cup "gift".

However, five nights' accommodation can be booked directly from the hotel for the same room in high season for €2,865. The price of a ticket for the golf tournament is €345, leaving the transport to and from the K Club, the "celebration evening" and the "gift" costing €3,910.

For more modest travellers, a five-day package at the three-star Tara Towers Hotel, Dublin, will cost €2,880, but five days' high-season accommodation will cost €545. Deducting the cost of the tournament ticket leaves the extras costing €1,990.

RCTS negotiated accommodation rates with hotels within travelling distance of the competition venue when it was announced last year.

The company has been organising trips to the Ryder Cup since 1997. They have a contract with Ryder Cup Ltd, a company set up by the PGA to manage the tournament, and they have recently been awarded the contract to handle travel packages up to and including Ryder Cup 2014. An element of the profit on travel packages goes to Ryder Cup Ltd.

John Parker, director of Ryder Cup Travel Services, said its charges were not outside the parameters of industry standards.

"We have had three years of overheads so far. We have had an office open in Dublin for two years and staff in England working exclusively on this event," he said.

"We also sell through third-party travel agents and they need to be paid a commission.

"The Ryder Cup is a major international sports event. There is an expectancy that people are going to make money. It is fair enough to expect that, in the same way as we as consumers benefit from reduced hotel charges in quiet periods, it's about supply and demand."

A spokeswoman for Fáilte Ireland, which is marketing the Ryder Cup in Ireland, said she did not think prices for Ryder Cup packages and accommodation would exacerbate the perception of Ireland as a rip-off venue.

"Demand is going to far exceed supply around Ryder Cup time," she said.

"Prices do rise in other Ryder Cup venues. It has happened in previous venues when it was held. Ireland won't be any different to any other country."

She said that although Fáilte Ireland did not have have control over RCTS prices, it was confident the company was offering a quality product.

Visitors hoping to organise accommodation on their own will pay "rack rate", the highest rate approved by Fáilte Ireland, for the September weekend. But accommodation will not be the only problem facing solo travellers. Tickets for the Ryder Cup could prove difficult and expensive to acquire.

A lottery system for 20,000 tickets was organised by the PGA earlier this year. It was vastly oversubscribed and applications to the lottery closed on July 18th.

The RCTS has 6,000 tickets but these are only available with its accommodation packages.

Most of the remainder of the tickets have been taken up by corporate hospitality.

Many fans may resort to internet sites such as rydercup2006tickets.com, which advertises four-day tickets for $1,095 (€924).