THE AIRTEL INDIA GOLF FESTIVAL

Airtel Enterprise Services presents - THE AIRTEL INDIA GOLF FESTIVAL, Brought to you by Incredible India, from Nov 29 – Dec 2nd , 2007, Qutab Golf Club, Lado Sarai, New Delhi.

[ClickPress, Tue Nov 27 2007] The commencement of the 3rd Airtel India Golf Festival, Delhi’s largest amateur golf tournament, was announced by Ms. Leena Nandan, Jt. Secretary, Ministry of Tourism today. The festival is being presented by Bharti Airtel Limited, India’s leading provider of telecommunications services. The Airtel India Golf festival will be played from Nov 29 – Dec 02, 2007 at the Qutub Golf Course in Delhi.

Announcing the festival, Ms Leena Nandan , Joint secretary, Ministry of Tourism, said, “The Airtel India Golf Festival celebrates the emergence of Delhi as a world-class golfing destination. We are delighted that Delhi now has premium modern golf courses which offer top quality golf experience to visitors. We feel that with the Airtel India Golf Festival, Delhi will soon be seen as a great tourism draw card, bringing in visitors not just from other parts of India but overseas as well.”

Talking about the Incredible India campaign, Ms. Nandan said, ""The Incredible India campaign is moving away from being generic to a highly specialised campaign, branding India in different niche areas. The campaign will concentrate on areas like golf tourism and medical tourism etc.”

Ruchir Godura, Chief Marketing Officer, Airtel Enterprise Services, Corporate said, “Airtel India Golf festival 2007 is an opportunity for us to go beyond business and relate to our customers outside of the meeting room. With this event we hope to offer our esteemed partners the chance to tee off and take a relaxing break from their fast-paced lives, just the way they want to.” He further elaborated, “Airtel India Golf Festival, 2007 offers to the participants an ideal mix of business with pleasure. Airtel is happy to partner with the Ministry of Tourism in their endeavour to promote ‘Golf tourism’ in India and showcase Delhi as the perfect golfing destination.”

“The “India Golf Festival” is an example of private – public partnership” said Rishi Narain, former Asian Games Gold Medallist, who runs Rishi Narain Golf Management, the event organiser . “The Ministry of Tourism’s objective is to promote golf tourism and Airtel Enterprise Services’ objective is to facilitate networking with corporate customers, many of whom play and follow golf. By combining the objectives of both parties, we have been able to create the Airtel India Golf Festival brought to you by Incredible India”, he added.

A highlight of the Airtel India Golf Festival this year is the presence of leading international American golf coach Claude Harmon. Claude Harmon has been an integral member of the Butch Harmon Golf Academy, responsible for training World No 1 player Tiger Woods for ten years of his incredible career. Claude Harmon has a special link with India as Indian star Gaurav Ghei credits Claude with his resurgent form over the past two years , winning two Asian tour events and ranking in the top 10 on the Asian tour rankings.

An open Junior Golf Clinic on Friday, Nov 30th, 2007 will be conducted by Claude and Gaurav Ghei who will talk about principles of a sound golf swing. The two international stars will share not only secrets of their technique but also their learning on the road to global success. The clinic will be held on Friday, from 3.30 to 4.30 pm at the driving range, Qutab Golf Club. Entry is free and all are invited.

The India Golf Festival tournament consists of simultaneous team and individual competitions. 100 players will participate each day for four consecutive days. Players enter in teams of four and also compete for individual and pairs prizes. Scoring is on best ball basis which emphasizes teamwork and strategy. The scores of the two pairs add up to give the four member team score.

There are daily prizes for best individual scores and also team prizes for the best teams across the four days of the tournament.

ABOUT BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED

Bharti Airtel Limited is one of India’s leading private sector providers of telecommunications services with an aggregate of 30.27 million customers as of end of October‘06, consisting of 28.61 million mobile customers. Bharti Airtel has been rated among 10 best performing companies in the world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list.

Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units - Mobile services, Broadband & Telephone (B&T) services and Enterprise services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles. The B&T business provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national & international long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Airtel’s high-speed optic fibre network currently spans over 36,000 kms covering all the major cities in the country. The company has two international landing stations in Chennai that connects two submarine cable systems - i2i to Singapore and SEA-ME-WE-4 to Europe. For more information, visit www.bhartiairtel.in


About Enterprise Services (Corporate) division of Bharti Airtel

The Company’s enterprise service group provides secure, scalable, seamless, reliable and customised integrated solution of voice and data communications for corporate, small and medium scale enterprises. The group focuses on delivering telecommunications services as an integrated offering including mobile, broadband & telephone, national and international long distance and data connectivity services to key account corporate customers through business relationship management.

GOLF TOURISM – THE FACTS

According to the International Association of Golf Tour Operators, an organization founded in 1997 to promote the Golf Tourism Industry, having 760 member companies including 200 specialist golf tour operators in 38 countries, there are 50 million golfers worldwide and the global golf tourism market is worth US$30 billion annually.

Tourism Authority of Thailand reported 400,000 golf tourist visitors in 2005 spending around 7 billion Baht ( approx Rs 650 crores) and Tourism Malaysia reported 250,000 golfers in 2005. Both countries are actively working at doubling revenues and arrivals within a few years.

It is estimated that the typical golf tourist spends 30% more per day than other tourists.
The key factors that drive golf tourism are:
1. High quality golf courses in a cluster
2. Climate
3. Value for money packages
4. International and local accessibility.
5. Quality service and convenience.


Delhi now has the necessary attractions to become an attractive stop for avid golfers. The best in golf course design from Jack Nicklaus ( Classic Golf Resort), Arnold Palmer ( DLF G&CC), Greg Norman ( Jaypee Greens), Martin Hawtree ( Golden Greens) and of course the venerable Delhi Golf Club, famous for its unique “jhadi” bushes, monuments, peacocks and rich tradition of golf.

“If we can attract 1000 golf tourists per week to Delhi between October and March, when the weather is great for golf , this will translate to 25,000 golf visitors per season and at 5 day stay worth US$300 per day, it translates to US$37.5 million in earnings or Rs 170 crores which will accrue to the travel and golf industry in the city” says Ms. Leena Nandan, “this should be our immediate goal”.

The current spare capacity during weekdays at all the major golf courses in the National Capital Region will thus be utilized profitably by the private developers which will fuel more investment into golf facilities and continue the earnings growth spiral.

More information is available on wwwrishinaraingolf.com. 400 players will participate in the gala event with considerable national and international media coverage.

In future, the “Airtel India Golf Festival” hopes to match other leading golf festivals around the world like those held in Florida, Spain, South of France and other leading golf holiday destinations worldwide. More courses involved, more rounds of golf for visitors will help golfers plan their golfing holiday during the “Golf Festival” week as this become a focal point for projecting Delhi as what it has truly become – a world class golfing destination and the golfing capital of the South Asian region.