Gurgaon, the Millennium City will soon be the first hub of golf tourism in the country. "Golf is an important tourism product and we are planning to promote it in a big way," says SN Roy, director of the Haryana State Tourism department. Already, Gurgaon attracted close to 30,000 golf tourists last year and the number is increasing by close to 10 percent annually. This number includes all the walk-ins and tournament participants who are not members of the clubs.
The term 'Golf Tourism' finds mention right at the top of state tourism department's website among other destinations and highlights.
"Gurgaon has a few of the best golf courses in the country, each quite different from another and yet in close proximity," said Aakash Johri, director, DLF Golf Resort, one of the three 18-hole courses in the city. "This variety is one of the main features that attract golf enthusiasts to the city to experience different kinds of courses." DLF golf resort has been rated amongst the best in the country and is the only Golf course in the country that offers the option of night golfing, Mr Johri adds.
A few kilometers from DLF is the ITC Classic Golf Resort, a 27-hole golf course and also the oldest one in the city. Designed by world-renowned Jack Nicklaus ITC Resort has close to 1,500 members and receives approximately 12,000 walk-ins a year as per a report in ET by J. Srikant.
"In the last five to six years, the activity has gone up impressively," says Arjun Singh, marketing and golf operations manager of the resort. Apart from the world class ITC Classic Golf Resort, DLF Golf Course and Golden Greens, there are several international standard golf courses in Delhi and Noida as well, which are form a part of golf itineraries in North India.
"It is in the winter season when most golf tourists visit India. October to March is the time when we see most number of footfalls," says Mr Singh. "International tourists mostly come from Europe, South East Asia and Middle East. If you seek my opinion, Koreans and Japanese are the keenest golfers around," he adds.
One of the main reasons for the increase, observers point out, is the increase in the globally exposed corporate presence in Gurgaon. "A lot of top executives working for multinational companies prefer to fix the deal over a round of golf," says Saurabh Chopra, senior manager, Golden Greens Golf and Country Club.
"And this has undoubtedly increased the walk-ins. We are also going to start corporate memberships in near future," he says. Golden greens, another well-known golf course, has been designed by Richard Hawtree and Ranjit Nanda.
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