AS THE Scottish Open comes to a conclusion at Loch Lomond, the country's top golf tourism bodies have taken a swing at VisitScotland, describing its strategy towards the game as "irrelevant" to their businesses and the online booking service visitscotland.com as "pathetic".

Scott Hart, managing director of Golf Scotland and a founder member of the Scottish Incoming Golf Tour Operators Association, warned: "Despite being globally recognised as the traditional home of golf, Scotland has lagged behind Ireland in inward golf tourism marketing."

Scotland's national tourism agency is looking east to emerging territories such as China and India, but Hart maintains the US is still the key market. However, the absence of a VisitScotland office in the country is, he said, a "major impediment to delivering American business", which is still well below September 11, 2001, levels.

He pointed out: "The Irish Tourist Board has a network of offices in key existing and growth markets such as the US and Australia, while Scotland has to rely on the offices of VisitBritain, which is very London-centric."

VisitScotland offshoot EventScotland has invested more than £600,000 in a basket of golf events this summer, including the Seniors British Open and this month's Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, which has featured some of the world's top players, including Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter, below, and Sergio Garcia. VisitScotland itself is in the middle of a three-year sponsorship deal with the Scottish Open; believed to be a substantial six-figure sum.

But Gary Wilkinson, of Dunfermline-based Wilkinson Golf, agrees VisitScotland is out of touch. He said: "There is a feeling of complacency and it feels like a them-and-us' mentality."

Wilkinson, a founder member of the independent industry group Golf Tourism Scotland, added: "The overseas golf holiday sector is of significant value, worth over £200 million a year, and it is our view that a proportion of the millions being invested in Scotland's hosting of the Ryder Cup would be better served supporting and promoting the industry here in Scotland before during and after 2014. We must have a lasting legacy out of Scotland's Ryder Cup.

"The Irish have now admitted publicly that there has been none of the anticipated bounce effect' from the 2006 Ryder Cup and although they claim the economic impact was in the order of 129m about £87.5m, Golf Tourism Scotland's research indicates a post-event vacuum."

And a recent assessment by the 2008 Ryder Cup organisers in Valhalla, Louisville, placed a value of US$29m (about £14.3m) on last year's Ryder Cup, less than 25% of official Irish estimates.

Wilkinson, who has almost 15 years' experience of the industry, also described the visitscotland.com/golf website as "woefully inadequate".

He said he expects little additional direct business will be generated through the high-profile portfolio of events, other than The Open, though there will be benefits as global TV coverage showcases the country.

VisitScotland is also accused of secrecy. Wilkinson said: "Golf Tourism Scotland has been unable to acquire a copy of the golf marketing plan, which has been labelled confidential' by VisitScotland. It was only through Freedom of Information requests that we were able to ascertain their marketing spends are as they were five years ago, a 10%-15% drop in real terms.

"Compare this with the Irish Tourist Board who readily issued their golf development plan and invited us to their travel trade planning event. VisitScotland, at a strategic level, is a closed door."

Responding, Malcolm Roughead, VisitScotland's director of marketing, said: "VisitScotland's golf strategy is tied into our joint industry ambition to grow tourism revenues by 50% by 2015.

"To achieve that growth we need, as an industry, to meet and exceed consumer needs and demands, and to communicate compelling reasons to visit through the channels of their choice. Tourism is everyone's business and everyone involved in golf tourism has a role to play."

On the issue of non-representation in the key US market, Roughhead said: "VisitScotland is represented in North America in strategic partnership with VisitBritain. We also employ US-based PR and marketing agencies to conduct our North American campaigns."

Meanwhile, several overseas journalists have reported multiple failed attempts to secure Open Championship accommodation through VisitScotland.com - one from Spain reporting four failures, another from India having trouble on three occasions, all without response.

A VisitScotland spokeswoman said: "Statistics show that 98% of all email enquiries through visitscotland.com are answered within 24 hours, but we will investigate this complaint thoroughly."