Nick Tarratt: The UAE’s journey from desert to leading golf destination

Gulf News

How the UAE took a vision 30 years ago and turned it into a reality to lead the way in transforming the global golfing map.  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #golf #sports

Transcript

00:00I think the golf industry has very much grown with the city of Dubai and the country of the UAE.

00:13I came here in 1990 when there was one golf course, 18 holes, it's now 36. It wasn't floodlight and

00:20the nearest golf courses were probably in Egypt one way, west and Calcutta east. So it was,

00:26there was sand golf of course that was important for the evolution for the game. But I think the

00:30golf industry has very much grown with the city of Dubai and the country of the UAE. And I think

00:36the industry has to decide when do we have healthy rivalry, where do we work together.

00:42International golf tourism, I think that's probably the next step in the evolution of golf. Focus for

00:49the industry at the top level and for government officials with the development of golf on the

00:55European tour, it was time to expand. And the first tournament outside mainland Europe was to

01:03Tunisia and Port Al-Khantoui. That was the first time outside mainland Europe in the Arab world,

01:11in Tunisia. And then in 1988, it was the first time that they came to Dubai for the

01:18Dubai Desert Classic. That was the first time they came to the Middle East. And then what developed

01:23was Abu Dhabi. They saw the merit of putting a great climate off season for Europe and other

01:30parts of the world, great facilities, great hospitality. The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

01:36came on board. Qatar came on board with the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. Oman came on board

01:43with the NBO Challenge Tour event that I established. And then it became a main European

01:49tour event a couple of years ago. And then, of course, Saudi have now come big into the game of

01:53golf. So from pioneer days in the late 1980s, now, in all honesty, the Middle East is a real hub for

02:04the European tour. It's amazing in such a short space of time, in the big picture, that Dubai

02:11and the Middle East has really gone on the map. And it'll be interesting to see how,

02:17post-COVID, how the region, and particularly Dubai and the UAE, needs to prove itself perhaps a little

02:25more on golf tourism. Perhaps the industry, personal opinion, needs to come together a

02:30little bit. What's exciting for me with the industry of golf in Dubai is that it is 12

02:38months a year. It's not people just coming to watch a golf tournament for one week.

02:44The mantra of the European tour and other tours around the world is,

02:48play where the pros play. A golf course, each one has its own personality, its own challenge,

02:54the scenery, the exercise, the terrain. And each club has its own personality, as we've seen

03:00today. And what's exciting is it's a 12-month business.

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