Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 16 - 22 November 2000 Issue No.508
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Tee with the Pharaohs

By Rehab Saad

Golf is in vogue. New courses have suddenly sprung up all over the country and more are about to be completed. Moreover, a new type of tourist is expected, attracted by golf experience in the land of the Pharaohs.

The interest has prompted the Ministry of Tourism to try to promote golf as a new tourist product for the first time. The new brochure includes comprehensive details about golf in Egypt, a note about its history and the most important golf courses scattered around Cairo, extending to the Red Sea and South Sinai.

According to tourist officials, the new publication will be distributed worldwide among travel agencies and tour operators who are marketing golf abroad. It will also be available in the most important tourist fairs worldwide. It has been published in English and will be translated into other languages shortly.

According to Mamdouh El-Beltagui, minister of tourism, this publication is but the first phase of a big campaign being launched to promote golf in Egypt. "We are working towards holding international golf championships organised by specialised international golfing organisations. This, in my view, will allow a wide promotion for the new tourist trend," El-Beltagui said.

The brochure is called "Egypt Golf" and starts with a message by the minister of tourism about the different attractions of Egypt, ranging from ancient history to white sandy beaches and virgin deserts. "And now," El-Beltagui added, "Egypt will become a home for golfers. There are eight new world-class golf courses - seaside courses, desert courses and oases courses. Three historic courses were designed in the 19th century by the very people who invented the game. In Egypt, every day is the perfect day for a game."

The booklet reveals the wide variety of courses, and the attractions in each of the areas; one is located along the Red Sea coast and its new courses include the Cascades at Soma Bay, Steigenberger Golf Resort at El-Gouna and Movenpick Jolie Ville Golf Resort at Sharm Al-Sheikh. The second area takes you to Alexandria with the Alexandria Sporting club, the third highlights Luxor's Royal Valley Golf Club and the fourth covers the courses in Greater Cairo that include Mena House Oberoi, Gezirah Sporting Club, Pyramids Golf and Country Club, Dreamland Golf and Tennis Resort, Katameya Heights Golf and Tennis Resort, Mirage City Golf Club and Golf City.

Each area has its own history and local attractions. And each golf course is covered in the brochure in detail: how many fairways, whether for members only or open to non-members as well, whether tourist groups are welcome, and the services available (pro shops, caddies, power carts, driving range and club rental). Some courses have facilities for learning the game (golf pro, golf academy, electronic teaching equipment), and services provided by each club, such as a bar, restaurant, exercise facilities, health spa, sauna, steam, massage along with details of accommodation. To make things easy, telephone numbers, web sites, addresses and e-mails of each golf course are provided in the brochure.

Taking in the green: tourists are coming to Egypt for something few associate with a trip to the land of the Pharaohs -- golf photo: Khaled El-Fiqi

"Marketing Egypt as a golf destination is important in this early phase because there are neighbouring countries that already have a reputation for this kind of tourism including Morocco, the United Arab Emirates(UAE) and Turkey. They started the business many years ago and already have their own clientele. But I believe that once golf fanatics learn of what Egypt has to offer they will come flocking here," said Kamal Okasha, managing director of Nile Traveller Club (NTC). Okasha believes that Egypt now has great potential as a major golf destination because it already has a good number of courses with sound infrastructure.

The golf business in Egypt is, in fact, nothing new. Earlier golf courses like those of Mena House and Gezirah Club that catered largely to expatriates, were there many years ago. Since 1996, a new generation of courses sprouted throughout Egypt. They are luxury resorts surrounded by super deluxe villas and apartments. The activities in these areas are not restricted to golf but also include tennis, squash, swimming, horse riding and other sports.

Forget about the flat golf courses of yore. Today the trend is to offer challenging fairways, with hills and valleys, bumpers and artificial lakes on the greens. The resorts have been designed by international experts. They include famed architects like Gene Bates of the US, who designed the course of El-Gouna resort on the Red Sea, or golf champions like the South African Gary Player, reputedly one of the greatest golfers of all time, who designed the Cascades Golf and Country Club at Soma Bay, also on the Red Sea.

Egypt is largely a desert land -- apart, of course, from the fertile Nile valley -- so special turf had to be imported: Tifdwart Bermuda or Kikuyu or Bermuda 419 are varieties that grow on sand and in heat. They are planted in most of the new courses. The water used for irrigation is brackish and or treated sewage water. No hoses are used. Everything is automatic and computerised.

Khaled Abu Taleb, head of the Egyptian golf federation, explained that the golf industry began to flourish in Egypt for two reasons: first, it helps in marketing villas and apartments that overlook the golf courses; second, it helps attract European tourists of a certain calibre, specially in winter, when the weather here is warm. According to Okasha of NTC, golf is an expensive game; it attracts a traveller who pays well and stays for a long time. "Golfers are much higher paying clients than the average traveller. They are people who look for, and expect, the best, and who are ready to pay for it," he said.

Each of the new golf resorts has a five-star hotel, either already in operation or about to be completed. Once a golfer tries them out they are expected to come again.

Hani Yassa, general manager of Mirage City, said that traditional tourism in the last few years was not profitable as in earlier times, which is one of the reasons why investors are turning their attention to alternative and more profitable trends.

According to golf investors, numerous golf courses in Egypt are an advantage. Each differs from the other, the landscape is varied, the courses either challenging or easy. If golfers are not satisfied with one course they might like to try another.

"Golfers do not like to play on the same course every day as with other sports. They like to change. Therefore, having a significant number of courses can help generate tourism," said Hatem El-Halwagy of Al-Gouna golf course. He explained that a golfer might come to Ain Al-Sukhna on the Gulf of Suez to play golf, then go to the course of Soma bay on the Red Sea proper "where his wife and children can swim, dive or snorkel". He might then make a trip to Luxor to combine golf with some sightseeing.

A golfer who chooses to go to the Sixth of October City to play at the Dreamland Golf Resort will find himself not far from the pyramids. Alternatively, a golfer can go to Al-Gouna or the course of Sharm Al-Sheikh where he can enjoy, in addition to golf, opportunities for relaxation on the beach or water sports, El-Halwagy said.

The opportunities are clearly endless. Tee off towards the sea, or towards an ancient monument; follow the fairway to a green 'green' in the middle of the desert; and look up to see an eternally blue sky ... that is golf in Egypt!

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