ETW Staff – Mumbai
The FICCI Golf Tourism Summit held at ITC Grand Bharat in New Delhi witnessed a gathering of around 18 foreign golf tour operators from 16 countries to explore what golf in India has to offer, as a sport and as a golfing destination. About 176 structured, pre-scheduled B2B meetings between buyers and sellers were conducted over the two-day summit (October 26-27, 2016). The delegates were taken for a post event FAM trip to golf courses in the Delhi & NCR region, which was conducted by the Indian Golf Tourism Association (IGTA) under the leadership of its president Rajan Sehgal. A special round of golf was also conducted at ITC Grand Bharat as part of the event.
Addressing the event, Dr Mahesh Sharma, union minister of state (independent charge) of tourism and culture, Government of India informed, “The ministry of tourism (MoT) is creating a comprehensive and co-ordinated framework for promoting golf tourism in India, capitalising on the existing work that is being carried out, and building upon the strength of India’s position as the fastest growing free market economy. MoT has revised guidelines to develop and promote India as a preferred golf tourism destination. The objective is to promote India as a multiple tourism attraction destination offering varied niche tourism products to make India a 365-day destination.”
The inaugural session of the summit was also addressed by Dipak Haksar, chief operating officer, ITC Grand Bharat; Padamjit Sandhu, director, Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and Dr A Didar Singh, secretary general, FICCI.
Vinod Zutshi, secretary, MoT, Government of India, who was also present at the event, stated, “India is becoming a niche player in golf tourism with 22 functional golf courses, 30 of them suitable for professional golfers and 15 signature golf courses.” Dr Jyotsna Suri, president, FICCI, chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee and CMD, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, said, “India has 220 golf courses across the country which includes 25 signature golf courses from Jammu & Kashmir in the north to south of India.”
Speaking on the intiative, Dr Deepankur Mittal, director, Security Instruments, said, “I was highly impressed with the summit as it brought the world to India. It is a great intiative to bring the world to India. Such connections through the sport should be encouraged as it further strengthens our relationships with countries on a global level.”