Thursday, March 27, 2008

Flights to Turkey


Antalya’s property market should benefit from the news that British Airways will operate a new route to Antalya from next spring.

Three weekly flights from Gatwick airport will start on April 10th. There will also be regional flights from Stansted, Exeter, Sheffield/Doncaster and Newcastle.

British Airways commercial director Robert Boyle said: “Antalya is in South West Turkey and is an increasingly popular leisure destination with new tourism facilities being developed.

“There is a strong possibility that Easy Jet could also extend into this part of Turkey, s they already fly into Istanbul. Add to this a brand new airport scheduled for Alayna and you can see how this part of the world is really opening up. Competition from airlines can only bring cheaper flights.”

The Turkish property market is reportedly ripe for investment at the moment. Prospects for capital growth in Turkey currently looks good. Robert Nixon Turkish developers Nirvana International commented: “Increased flights from the UK to Turkey can only help to increase the number of tourists and investors, as this remarkable country goes from strength to strength.”

Wednesday, March 19, 2008


To the not-so-seasoned golf traveler, Turkey would be a very unlikely golf holiday destination. But with a rich and varied landscape, a good weather and eye catching courses, it figures on an increasing number of golf packages now. Straddling the orient and the occident, Turkey is in an enviable position, geographically. Historically, Turkey has been an important player having given rise to the Ottoman and the Byzantine empires.

Resonating with a rich cultural heritage and natural beauty, Turkey has always been a tourist destination fascinating people from all over the world. in the last few years tourism in Turkey has added a new dimension to its charms – golf. The sport is gaining popularity and Turkey is earning its place as a favored golf package inclusion owing to the fact it offers several fabulous courses not yet crowded by enthusiastic golf holiday makers.

One of the best things about golf travel to Turkey is that it is an easy and a fairly inexpensive affair. You can play world class courses on mountains, some of the most beautiful beaches, in plains and in forests. This diversity is attractive enough to golfers for planning dedicated golf vacations to Turkey. What’s more, Turkey also offers a lot more than golf – captivating Ottoman architecture, fascinating arts and a great cuisine for the hungry traveler.

However, when you are on a golf tour little else occupies your mind and you want to start swinging away as soon as possible. Before you tee off, you’ll have to decide which region you want to exhaust first. Golf in turkey is concentrated in two places – Antalya and Istanbul.

A great start to your golf vacation could be some of the courses in the ancient city of Antalya. Founded in the second century BC by Attalus II, Antalya is a visual treat situated along the Mediterranean coast. Most of the courses here are located in the golf resort area called Belek just a few miles from the Antalya airport so you can begin your golf holiday as soon as you land. Start off with the Antalya Golf Club comprising two courses – The Sultan and The Pasha. The Sultan is an 18-hole, 6411 meters course designed by David Jones. Playing the Sultan on your golf tour may send you back a better golfer for it tests every skill you have while offering a great view of the surrounding greenery and all this at just EUR 75. The Pasha is even more demanding and requires a skillful player. With 18 demanding holes, tough dog-legs and foxy bunkers, The Pasha is an experience you can’t miss.

Another notable course in Antalya is the Gloria golf resort designed by Michael Gayon. An 18-hole parkland style championship course, Gloria runs to 6300 meters par 72. The layout gives you a good walk and a tough time around four huge lakes and more than 60 bunkers. Your golf tour would be incomplete without this gem.

The next stop on your golf travel by default would be Istanbul, a modern city far from the sepia toned picture you may have imagined. One of the best and the oldest courses in Europe that your golf tour cannot do without is the Maslak. Two other courses that will make your golf vacation memorable are Klassis Golf & Country Club and the Kemer Golf & Country Club.Â

Turkey is a beautiful country blessed with natural good looks, warm and friendly people and a lot more golf coming up. You can play some thirst quenching golf on your golf tour and still not have to rob a bank to pay for it. With several more courses on the anvil, Turkey is a golf holiday destination slated to get to the top very soon.
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History of Golf in turkey


Golf was introduced to Turkey at the end of 1800s. The first golf club was founded in 1895 in İstanbul as “Istanbul Golf Club.” This club had a great role in introducing golf to Turkey. Izmir Bornova Golf Club followed this in 1905, Boğaziçi Bebek Golf Club in 1911 and Ankara Golf Club in 1949. These clubs were affiliated to Tennis Federation, founded in 1926.

The first golf field was built in Maslak district, İstanbul.. This field moved to Levent in 1922, then moved to the Fourth Levent after 1940 before moving to its present place in Harp Academies. The first caddie competition, made in the field of Istanbul Golf Club in Maslak on 22 June 1977. Bulent Cakır ranked the first in the competition.

With the acception of the main targets and principles in the 6th. Five Year Development Plan on 22 Mayıs 1989, golf sports gained a new chance for a rise. Luckily, Ministry of Tourism provided the assignment of golf fields in Antalya and Izmir in 1990. The first professional golf field in Turkey, Istanbul Klassis Golf Country opened in 1994. National Golf Club and Kemer Country Club followed them in Belek, Antalya. Raif Bilir was appointed to be the chairman to the Golf Federation, founded in 1995.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Turkish golf plans


Often considered a bourgeoisie sport, the face of golf in Turkey is changing. The Turkish Golf Federation (TGF) is scouting the entire country and has already increased the number of licensed players to over 5,000.

While Spain earns 6 billion euros and Portugal gets 2 billion euros, Turkey only receives around 160 million euros from golf tourism, and it is the biggest asset for tourism's biggest countries. “It is impossible to raise golf tourism if there is no golf culture in the country,” says Ahmet Ağaoğlu, federation president. That is why the federation is making a great effort for a leap. In 2001, Turkey had a ridiculously small number of licensed golf players: only 78. Now there are 5,000 with almost 60 percent of them coming from poor Anatolian families.

“The all-in packages in hotels are sold for 20 euros,” says Ağaoğlu. “But an ordinary golf tourist spends 200-260 euros. You have to welcome tourists from different profiles and background, and be prepared for that.”

At first, only 60 kids have showed up for selections because of the resistance of many families. However, after successful runs in the European Championships and the Mediterranean Games, golf has made it on the sports agenda.

Additionally, it has been heard that the federation supports talented players in their education.

“We pioneered the opening of a golf coaching department in the Marmara University and 18 of our scholars are studying here,” says Ağaoğlu, underlining that it was a big deal for not-so-rich families. “Now a thousand people have applied. We are going to pick 60 of them.”

He notes that in Erzurum, there is a strong tendency for girls to play golf. There are almost 500 girls that are licensed golf players in the city. “People are exaggerating the situation when they claim that families do not send their daughters to school,” comments Ağaoğlu. “When you give them the opportunity, see what they can do.”



Golf for the challenged:

The TGF is now preparing another project for physically challenged sportsmen. German national golf team coach and captain are to work in that project. Six machines to help a player with spinal paralysis in golfing are already bought. Each machine costs 18, 000 euros. One wonders about the overall budget of such an active federation. Ağaoğlu states that a yearly budget of 150-200,000 euros is enough to keep the work going, and emphasizes that no outside support is used.

“Golf is the kind of sport that people from every age and economic group can do,” says Ağaoğlu. “It is wrong to promote it as a bourgeoisie sport.” Ağaoğlu gives the example of England and Ireland, where the lower classes play golf, too. Now the federation is trying to break that belief in Turkey. “George Bush is playing golf and Ahmet from Ağrı can play as well,” says Ağaoğlu, and adds that they have made it to a certain point.

“Of the 5,000 licensed players in Turkey, 3,000 are under the age of 18 and kids of families with lower incomes.” Ağaoğlu accepts they were a little behind their plans of 10,000 licensed sportsmen, but it is sure that the country is in fact miles away from being world leaders of the sector. In Spain, there are 304 golf courses and 300,000 players. Even though there is a long distance from the other countries, Turkey is running fast to close the gap.



Golf brings 160 million euros income:

There are currently 11 golf courses in Turkey, eight of which are in Antalya and three in Istanbul. With new courses under construction in the Antalya region, the total number is expected to reach 21 by the end of 2008. Turkish Golf Federation chief Ahmet Ağaoğlu said these courses were among the best in the world. “Between May 2006 and May 2007, Turkey had an income of 160 million euros from golf tourism. That is a pretty good amount, when we reach 100 courses, the income will increase to 1.5-2 billion euros.”

He added golf tourism's share in the general tourism income of developed countries was 15-20 percent while it is 0.4 percent in Turkey. “Foreign investers are willing to enter the Turkish golf tourism market,” Ağaoğlu stressed, “but more than 100 Turkish investors are in line, too. All the Turkish investors are very successful at construction of golf courses, management, and marketing. I do not think that foreigners will have a chance in Turkey.”
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New Golf Course for Bodrum


The course architects at Golfplan-Fream, Dale & Ramsey, have broken ground on 18 new holes at the site. Golfplan has designed more than 160 courses in 26 different countries, but this project - slated for a spring 2009 opening - will be the firm's first in the emerging golf destination of Turkey.

Golfplan's 18-hole design at the as yet unnamed resort, with its large hotel component and 4,000 planned villas, will cater to this established crowd while also serving Bodrum's growing numbers of German and British tourists.

"This community has long been the quiet, moneyed alternative to Turkey's more commercial tourist region down the Ionian coast, and when you see the climate and terrain here in Bodrum, it's easy to see why they kept it quiet," says Kevin Ramsey, a partner with Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Golfplan-Fream, Dale & Ramsey.

"Both are perfectly suited to golf. Our site in Bodrum combines a sort of high-desert vegetation — rocky, sandy soils with olive trees, scrub oak and sage; very dry — with tropical temperatures in summer and serious elevation change."

Ramsey explained that half the routing extends down to the property's salt-water estuary, home to the palms and flamingos. Several corners of the site — including the 18th tee complex — are festooned with ruins from the ancient Greek and Roman cultures that thrived here for centuries Before the Common Era.

The other nine winds up into several valleys flanked by steep, striking rock outcroppings — site of the hotel and most of the real estate lots, which look down on the course. The hotel (developers are considering Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton) has been designed to resemble a Roman ruin that stair-steps down these rock plateaus. On the final, lowest step sits the clubhouse and 1st tee, Ramsey noted.

"We've been very careful with the routing and construction of the golf course," the course architect continues. "This entire area has tremendous history and areas adjacent to the golf course have been designated an archaeological preserve, so our intent is to keep things right where they are and let people experience the history. It's quite something to be standing beside a column or bit of masonry that's been in place for more than 2,500 years.

"Water is another big issue here, as everywhere these days. The regulations aren't as strict as they are in California, but they are one reason we've designed a paspalum golf course," says Ramsey, noting that this salt-tolerant grass allows course irrigation options that include both effluent and groundwater too brackish for normal turfgrasses. "We've specified Tifeagle greens [bermudagrass]. We also plan to revegetate some portions of the property with oaks and palms from other parts of the property."

This is the first golf resort project for developer Agaoglu, a veteran, Istanbul-based builder of high-rise apartments and office buildings in the city; so far they have done everything right, Ramsey says.

The owners are doing the general earthworks, while Golf International out of Istanbul has been hired to construct the course. Golfplan brought in one of its elite shapers, Jimmy Stevens, to do all the feature work. Stevens handled Golfplan designs at Eagle Ridge in Gilroy, Calif., and Guam International, among others.

The course at Bodrum will only be the tenth course in Turkey so golf is still in its infancy but the increased number of tourists means it is seen as an emerging golf destination.

Source http://www.voicesnewspaper.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1602