Srinagar, Aug 4: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said golf is an important part of the overall tourism promotion efforts in the Union Territory.
The chief minister inaugurated the J-K Open PGTI golf tournament by teeing off at the Royal Springs Golf Course (RSGC) here and said, “Golf tourism is an important part of our overall tourism promotion efforts for Jammu and Kashmir.”
The chief minister said golf tourism has picked up in J-K this year even without active promotion. People are flying into Srinagar for a long weekend. “Arriving on Friday, playing Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday whole day, and either going back Sunday evening or Monday morning,” he said.
“We have more than a hundred professional golfers who have come as part of the PGTI. We have more than 10 overseas entries as well, and our endeavour is that this be an annual tournament, not a one-off,” he said.
“From here we hope to scale up both the prize money as well as the participation, and ensure that it is a regular feature of the calendar for at least the next five years,” he added.
He asserted that such tournaments also help in promoting local golfers.
He announced that the government is making efforts to start a golf academy in J-K so that children at a very young age can be drawn towards golf, and groomed so that they can represent the country at a national level.
Pointing to successes in different sports fields for J-K in recent days, he said we have got two big successes — in cricketer Abid Nabi’s selection in the Indian Test team against Sri Lanka, and victory of Owais Yaqoob in mixed martial arts.
“Our boys and girls have talent, (but) there is a lack of exposure. If such tournaments happen more, we organise local tournaments, exposure will increase, and with increased exposure, more people will start paying attention to it,” he said.
Asked if the abrogation of Article 370 has helped increase golf activities in J-K, Abdullah said the Union Territory has organised such tournaments, and on a large scale before 2014 as well.
“Before militancy started in the 80s, the country’s biggest golf tournaments were organised in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in Kashmir. No golf season was considered complete in summers without playing in Gulmarg,” he said.
He said, during summers, golf cannot be played for almost five months in the rest of the country, and J-K is the only place that can organise coaching and training camps, and tournaments.
“So, our complete effort will be that we keep promoting it,” he added.
Abdullah said while a golf course may not be a profit centre, there can be no match to it from the perspective of tourism promotion.
He added that those people who come here “They don’t just play golf, they go on shikara rides, have a meal in a houseboat, their families come, they take handicrafts from here, they use taxis. So, ultimately, there is a benefit, there is no loss,” he said.
Lamenting the lack of international-quality cricket infrastructure in J-K, he said, there is a proposal on the part of BCCI to build two stadiums — one in Jammu, one in the Valley.
“We want that these two international-quality stadiums come up, so that we can host IPL matches and international cricket matches,” he said.
He said tournaments like PGTI increase J-K’s visibility.
The visibility is huge when a large number of professional golfers come here, stay and play for four days, with additional days for acclimatisation, he said.
Abdullah said the government’s endeavour is not for a one-off tournament, but that this should be part of the calendar of golf tournaments in the country, and that it becomes an important one.
“The idea is that you have continuity so that people build it into their calendar and make it a part of their visit,” he added.
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