ANA Inspiration launches tourism outreach in Asia

“We’ve always had a big television footprint in the Asian countries,” said Gabe Codding, director of the ANA Inspiration LPGA tournament, formerly known as the Kraft Nabisco. “But now that we have an official airline, I think people will start to flood the valley.”

All Nippon Airways, Japan’s leading air carrier, hopes its partnership with the first LPGA major of the season will take Asian tourism to the valley to new heights.

“we’ll develop packages that include airfare, hotel, that include playing in the pro-am, so people can get that destination package which, for the Asian market, never really existed before.”

The airline, which flew more than 45 million passengers last year, recently began running print ads for the ANA Inspiration featuring the Mission Hills Country Club and Rancho Mirage in its inflight magazine.

Soon, every flight will feature a documentary about the tournament, putting an even bigger spotlight on the valley.

“Hopefully they come here more from Asia, and we have more business and more people know about the Palm Springs area,” said James Lee, who owns Village Cleaners in Rancho Mirage.

Lee is a Korean-American and attends the tournament every year. He says women’s golf is big in his home country, and he hopes people who fly ANA will find the valley the ideal place to travel.

“Asian countries like China, Korea, Japan, they love professional golf tournaments. So it will help the business around here a lot,” Lee said.

“We have a lot of awareness but not a lot of options on how to get here,” Codding added. “I think that’s what we’ll pay a lot of attention to in future years.”