Be a sport
With traditional tourism going nowhere even after the restoration of peace in the country, taking advantage of sports tourism might just be the thing Nepal needs. Nepal has made little or no focused effort to create a tourist golf industry.
Thailand has had more than 35 years of tourism focused on golf: the leader in Asian golf tourism. In 2006, over a million rounds of golf were played in Thailand just by Korean golfers. How many millions more by other nationals can be imagined. Singapore with a population of 5 million and a shortage of land has 26 golf courses. Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia with 3 million inhabitants has more than 30 golf courses: 200 and more in the whole of Malaysia. Finland with 5.5 million people has around 150 golf courses. China has built over 400 golf courses since 1984. There are about 60 million golfers in the world, and about one-third of them are in Asia.
Our neighbours, China and India, have realised this potential, and every year 10 new golf courses are constructed. In China, they have started diverting their concern from agriculture to sports tourism, specifically golf courses. It makes good economic and employment sense.
Nepal probably has the best climate in the world that is suitable for the game of golf. It offers one of a kind, memorable, scenic, dramatic and diverse landscapes highly suitable for golf tourism. City of Lakes Pokhara, beautiful land around Khaptad, tea gardens Dhankuta and Ilam, the highlands around the Kathmandu Valley facing the Himalaya, rocky and scenic areas in Manang and Mustang, green forested land in the south and so forth. Any and many more such locations could be prime sites for tourist golf. Comfortable hotels with indigenous character at fair prices will attract golfers more than the ultra-luxurious and ultra-expensive hotels. Golf tourists can utilise residential housing estates built around such courses. Utilising the grand diversity of geology and the environment along with historic villages makes a great backdrop. Tourism golf should be profit focused and internationally marketed. The opportunity for youth employment, preservation of nature and income generated in foreign currencies are just few direct benefits.
Having said all this, the importance of the game of golf is not understood by the concerned in the government. Golf courses require huge plots of lands that do not necessarily have to be flat and smooth. Any land around river gorges or ravines, lands around airports act as a boundary and security; many international airports in the world have golf courses around it for the sake of safety and beautifying purposes. The present government can allocate lands around the proposed fast track routes and around the Nijgadh airport.
Golf began in Nepal way back in 1927 and was established formally as a social club named Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) in 1975 situated at Tribhuvan International Airport. The RNGC has a history of almost 90 years, and has been the pioneer social club which has produced about 45 professional golfers and hundreds of caddies who are all employed in Nepal and other countries. The club has almost 300 regular members whose membership fees and contributions have been providing employment to almost 300 men and women working at the golf course.
The RNGC has acted as a buffer zone between the ever encroaching city and the international airport. The golf course with lots of greenery has been a welcome sight to foreign visitors landing at TIA. The open space of the golf course around the international airport may become an important requirement in case of earthquakes and natural disasters. So the golf course and the club should be preserved taking into consideration all the other benefits it has been contributing to the safety and beautification of the international airport.
The Nepal Golf Association (NGA), the apex body of the game of golf in Nepal recognised by the National Sports Council, has been organising various golf development activities. It has been able to enlist golf in national sports and is presently participating in SAG. Ronald Fream, who has been a golf architect for more than 45 years, has been very supportive of the development of the golf game in Nepal. Fream is international advisor to the NGA whose advice and guidance has enabled the NGA to get financial and golf equipment from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews for the development of junior golfers. The NGA is working very closely with the RNGC and the Gokarna Golf Club in all its development activities.
NGA is actively seeking financial and other support from Princess Asha Raje Gaekwad of the Gaekwad Sports Foundation, Dr. Singha B. Basnyat, former ambassador to the U.K., and a number of other private organisations to establish a golf academy and construct a 9-hole course of the NGA. The government must help and support the NGA by providing unused land to build a golf course of its own so that it may be able to carry out its responsibility of creating golf for the common people and produce international standard golfers.
I hope the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Sports and other government agencies will understand the importance of golf and request them to preserve the historical golf course of the RNGC.
(The author is honorary secretary of the Royal Nepal Golf Club and joint secretary of the Nepal Golf Association)
Post Your Comment