Jumeirah Golf Estates (JGE) will host the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, until 2020.
The extension to the residential golf community’s commitment, which Jumeirah Golf Estates revealed yesterday at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, comes as DP World announced it will continue to be the title sponsor of the event, also until 2020.
The Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates has been the permanent home of the DP World Tour Championship for the past eight years, offering a prize purse of US$8 million with the additional $5m Race to Dubai bonus pool.
Jumeirah Golf Estates regards the tournament as a key plank in its marketing strategy.
“The global reach of this event is hard to overstate among the golfing public,” said Julian Small, the managing director for club operations at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
He said more than 62,000 spectators attended the event last year, while the global television reach exceeded 503 million. “The return on investment is hard to quantify but the fact that it has become one of the standout sporting events in Dubai says a lot. It will attract buyers and increase yields for the JGE communities. The constant beat of the drum of international golf and our participation brings nothing but positives for our brand.”
He said that there were many great golf courses in Dubai providing intense competition to host The Race to Dubai season finale, which includes the top 60 golfers on the European Tour.
According to Deloitte, golf in the UAE has grown into an industry worth $270m a year.
“The demographic that watches and plays golf is perfect for the marketing of and brand building for JGE. Many golfers around the world want to play on the courses that they see the top professionals play and that encourages visits to Dubai, not only when the tournament is on but all year round,” said Donal Killalea, the chief executive of Promo Seven Sports Marketing.
ascott@thenational.ae
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