MOU signed to take Sri Lanka Golf global

By Madushka Balasuriya

The Sri Lanka Golf Union has signed an MOU with PR Smith Marketing UK to promote and market the brand ‘Sri Lanka Golf (SLG)’. 

The move, which is aimed at attracting high net worth golf travellers to the country, is expected to derive a stream of economic and political benefits for the country, while simultaneously boosting Sri Lanka’s burgeoning golfing talent.

“Indirectly, with more world-wide media coverage, Sri Lanka itself will be show-cased worldwide and become attractive for more Foreign Direct Investments, thereby fulfilling the political aspirations of the Government,” said SLGU President Priath Fernando at the signing ceremony last week.

“With golf now re-established as an Olympic Sport, the present macro-environment in terms of the social, legal, economic, political and technological framework is now ideal for Sri Lanka Golf to move forward towards its vision to ‘Make Sri Lanka Golf – World Class’ by achieving its mission of ‘Creating World Class Golf Courses and Developing World Class Golfers.’”

Since taking over the reins of the SLGU in 2016, Fernando has been on a personal mission of rejuvenating the sport in the country. Part of that has been addressing numerous misconceptions surrounding golf in Sri Lanka. Myths such as golf being a too expensive a sport to played by the under privileged, and that it takes up valuable land need to rectified, stated Fernando.

“Sri Lanka Golf has started addressing these misconceptions and with the implementation of our plans, we are confident that the true benefits of golf will be quickly seen and experienced by all concerned.

“Direct benefits will be derived from attracting high net worth golfing tourists, creating employment, staging prestigious professional golf tournaments in Sri Lanka, and having a complete and thriving golf industry with more professional Sri Lankan golfers and professional golf trainers.”

While no hard numbers were brandished just yet, they are expected to be provided in the first six months of the partnership. For the time being the general outline of the plan is to, within the next year, utilise Sri Lanka’s booming growth in social media and general internet usage to promote the SLG brand islandwide and abroad through the use of digital platforms, as well as create a greater interest in golf as a sport in the country.

“The beauty of this island and the commitment of Priath and his team in the golf union is what made us consider investing in marketing the brand Sri Lanka Golf to the high net worth golf tourists. Today marks the commencement of the journey and much work needs to be done to develop this untapped segment of tourists,” said PR Smith Marketing UK Chairman Paul Smith.

Minister of Sports Dayasiri Jayasekara meanwhile revealed that the Sports Ministry has given its approval to the MOU, and would further offer its complete support and cooperation whenever required.

“Even though Sri Lanka has so much history and great assets, due to the limited access and awareness about golf, I know that our golf events are not attractive for sponsors. The Ministry of Sports is also not able to assist golf financially due to the limited funds allocated by the treasury, for the development of all Sports,” explained the Minister.

“Because of that, my Ministry does not have any objections, since your constitution of the Golf Union is not restricted to enter into a MOU with a party on a contract basis for fund raising or any other matter, with the approval of the council of your Golf Union.”

The support of the Government was welcomed by PR Smith Marketing UK Director Michael Ranasinghe, who trumpeted the achievement of pushing ahead with the MOU “without getting caught up in unwanted red tape”.

“While the partnership we have just entered into will commence the journey to market the brand Sri Lanka Golf to multiple stakeholders, what is even more significant is the fact that we kept things simple from the very inception without getting caught up in unwanted red tape. Knowing the destination is one thing but getting there is the challenge we need to be mindful of,” he said.   

“This is where we need to ask some fundamental questions. As a nation, we have never had an issue as to where we wanted to be but what has slowed us down is how we set about our journey.”