Şahin assessed the Turkish Airlines Open 2019 Golf Tournament which was held at Montgomerie Maxx Royal Golf Club at the Belek Tourism Center on November 7-10, with the participation of 75 golfers from 25 countries. Emphasizing that the tournament, the 7th of which was sponsored by Turkish Airlines, organized by the Turkish Golf Federation and supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports as well as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, provided a great contribution to the country, Şahin estimated that around 1 billion people across the world watched the event which was aired live on tv in various countries. Stating that Belek was referred to as the capital of golf in Europe, Şahin said: "It was an excellent event. Nearly 20 thousand golf viewers followed the tournament here. In this context, people came to play golf and watch the tournament. They stayed here and played golf." "The world saw the lighting capabilities on the golf course" Reminding that six players went to the play-offs on the last day of the tournament and that British golfer Tyrrell Hatton won the grand prize, Şahin said the following: "In tournaments like these, under normal circumstances, the game is adjourned till the next day as soon as it gets dark. Due to the lighting in our field, the game continued until the participants in the tournament beat each other and the competition ended. Therefore, we were also able to show the world the technical lighting system in our fields." Şahin informed that 150 thousand people came to Belek in a year just for golf, thanks to golf tourism, which contributed to the dissemination of tourism to 12 months. He said: "Today, Spain, which serves golf tourism with 300 fields, has a tourism income of around $5.5 billion. There is no reason why Turkey cannot create such a revenue source. The most important contribution of the tournament to Turkey is its promotion aspect, which cannot otherwise be provided even if $1 billion was spent. Another contribution of this tournament is its ability to drive market diversification. The Japanese, Korean, Asian and Chinese markets have created new markets for us. Now we can see Japanese and Chinese players in our fields.”
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After the Turkish Airlines Open 2019 Golf Tournament
