CEO’s 2020 SUMMARY & Happy New Year 2021!

“This was my 13th year in Sand Valley and this year will be the one I will always remember. It has been a year where often our world has shrunken inside the walls of our own homes, a year where everyone is feeling the need to breathe again, to hug again, to travel again and most importantly – to not to be afraid again.

All in all, in Sand Valley we lost half of our business due to the fact that we lost 90% of our Scandinavian visitors. 2019 Scandinavians were close to 90% of all of our business. If you live in Scandinavia, you might have heard how all the courses in your country were full and that it was the best year ever. When it comes to Poland however you must remember one important thing – there are only 6000 golfers in the whole country, so there is no way to make the courses full down here. You Scandinavian guys and gals were to play 15000 rounds of golf here this year, but only 1500 of them were ever played. We truly hope to see you in 2021 – we miss our old friends!

That being said, we kept our Team together and we kept our costs sensible in order to exist when the dust settles. I figured that if I lose the Team, then there is no way back in our business.. I know I was right because all the people working in Sand Valley have shown it to me during this challenging year. Those are the people I want to thank the most!

When the summer started, something quite beautiful happened – we had a “Polish Invasion ❤” that resulted in many things. Firstly, our members kept on believing and supporting us. They also brought their friends to visit and that helped us even more. We made some serious amounts of green card courses and were part of the revolution that saw people in Poland finally start playing this game. We hosted families, events and Polish golfers who for the first time found Sand Valley and as far as we see it – are sure to come back next year! Golf really was the safe way to enjoy fresh air and exercise while Pandemia surrounded us all.

We also sold Villas and apartments. We sold a lot of them. Interestingly all of them were sold to people who took part in this “Polish Invasion ❤”. In fact, within a year we are going from 130 beds to over 200. It looks like Sand Valley is growing faster than ever. Next year will also see our Pelican apartments and Pool Club finished and there is a lot more to come.

Our Team is already preparing for the 2021 season and we are all hopeful and optimistic that 2021 will be a year when things will turn around and the world will once more be open for travel. We would also like to thank all of you fantastic people that visited us this year – it is you who have made it possible for us to keep living the dream here at Sand Valley!

Happy new year to all of you and CU at SV ❤”

Antti Pohjonen