On Saturday, the municipality will inaugurate the Carrascal Discgolf Course in the Mata do Carrascal Botanical Park. It's another step in the plan drawn up a year and a half ago, Alvaiázere City Council Mayor João Paulo Guerreiro told Lusa.

"We saw great potential in disc golf—one of the fastest-growing sports in the world—especially because it's a sport widely practiced in North America and Northern Europe. And players often come south in the winter in search of the right conditions to practice this sport."

It's this influx of sports tourism that the municipality aims to attract, adding a new course in the town centre, starting Saturday, to the existing offerings at the Valle D'Encanto Disc Golf Park complex, located four kilometers from Alvaiázere.

In operation for a year, the private project is designed to cater to disc golf enthusiasts from beginners to professional players.

Since its opening, more than 500 players have passed through the park from countries such as the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, where the sport is widely practiced.

"About a year and a half ago, we went to an international competition in Finland to explore the potential, both sporting and tourism-wise. And we realized it was immense," emphasized João Paulo Guerreiro.

"Disc golf generates hundreds of millions of euros annually," and Alvaiázere intends to join this circuit.

“If we can capture even a small portion of that, it would be very important for our region." With just over six thousand inhabitants in the municipality, "we have to take advantage of these niches and opportunities to differentiate ourselves," the mayor added.

Disc golf arrived there through two Swedes who practice the sport and have settled in Alvaiázere. They were looking for a place to build a course and spoke with Amaral Carvalho, owner of the land that is now Valle D'Encanto Disc Golf Park, in the Marzugueira area.

The first course installed was so well received that there are now four courses on 13 of the property's 15 hectares: three with 18 holes (or baskets) and another with nine. They are designed for professional players, amateurs, beginners, and children. One for people with reduced mobility is currently under development.

The project includes a 5-star hotel, whose construction should "begin within a year," explained Amaral Carvalho.

The combination of disc golf and an educational farm allows players to encounter "baby donkeys, goats, and other animals along the course." While playing, "you can pick nuts, fruits, tangerines," or learn how to remove cork or harvest olives.

"It's a completely different sensory experience," he emphasized, which aims to establish Alvaiázere and the region as "an Iberian benchmark for disc golf."