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Turkey is once again in the public light, only this time it is not for its involvement in the Syrian crisis, nor for its “conflict” with Israel, while it only has four more months to bare the Cyprus EU presidency after which it can resume its romance with European leaders.
As a developed economy, and one that investment fund managers seem to adore, the government is making all the right moves to build up and improve its image in all areas – from politics to culture, tourism and now, sports.
Having secured a place in the Formula One circuit and later in the world rally championship, Turkey is now investing in golf as it will host a new matchplay event in October featuring Tiger Woods and other top players, which is to be played in Antalya, where the country’s first prospective European Tour Event, the Turkish Open could take place in 2013.
Former Ryder Cup Captain Colin ‘Monty’ Montgomerie was invited to discuss the country’s golf development with business leaders and politicians, while with golf returning to the Olympics in the Rio 2016 Games, it is hoped that a committed approach to the sport’s development from grass roots through to elite level will also pay dividends in Istanbul’s bid to host the event in 2020.
Turkey boasts an overwhelming majority share of junior golfers (52%), which stems from its national Golf Junior League initiative, prompting Monty to declare “this is a country the golfing world needs to watch closely.”
In addition to growing domestic interest in the game, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism outlined in its ‘Tourism Strategy– 2023’ report that new golf courses should be developed throughout the country with the intention of attracting an increasing volume of golf tourists and that areas large enough to accommodate a minimum of four courses should be identified and nominated for golf development.
Boasting 14 golf courses, Turkey’s Mediterranean coast has already established itself as an award-winning international golf tourism hotspot, hosting the International Golf Travel Market in 2011 and has ambitious plans for more golf resorts in the next two to five years.
Add to this that more than 85% of course owners and operators in Turkey indicated that they have not been affected by the recent economic downturn and 90% said they have positive expectations for 2012.
Meanwhile, in Cyprus…
