Indo courses, hotels launch Golf Wonderful Indonesia initiative

Golf Wonderful Indonesia, a consortium of premium courses, hotels and lifestyle outlets, has today thrown open the doors to discerning golfers across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America with a series of golf travel packages that leverage the country’s unique standing as a golf destination. The branded web portal,www.golfwonderfulindonesia.com, also launches today with a wealth of information, and packages, centered on golf and holiday-making across the Indonesian archipelago, with Jakarta as a hub and starting point. “Golf Wonderful Indonesia is indeed unique because, contrary to the way many golf destinations are formed and administered, we happily have it backwards,” said Harmony Le Riche, President Director of PT Panorama Wisata Nusantara, the tour operator managing all in-bound traffic for Golf Wonderful Indonesia. “Most regions claim the ‘golf destination’ mantle before there are truly enough quality courses, enough worthy hotels and off-course entertainment options to make that claim ring true. Indonesia, on the other hand, already boasts dozens of the finest golf courses in Asia-Pacific, most of them clustered together in established hubs like Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Bogor and Bali. Indonesia has never really focused on golf-specific promotion and packaging; it has been a well kept secret. “But now the secret is out, with the launch of Golf Wonderful Indonesia. We are ready to share with the world how travel here is affordable, practical and integral to everything else the country has to offer on the tourism front.” Le Riche noted the Golf Wonderful Indonesia brand clearly displays the strong support and partnership it enjoys from the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism, whose overarching slogan is “Wonderful Indonesia”. National flag carrier and airline Garuda Indonesia is another partner, but privately owned entities form the remainder of consortium membership which, for now, centers on Jakarta, home to a surfeit of top-shelf courses and accommodations. According to Le Riche, additional courses, hotels and corresponding packages will be added across the country in the coming months. Golf Wonderful Indonesia today includes the following golf course partners: *Cengkareng Golf Club, a Walter Raleigh Stewart-designed 18 that has played host to multiple Indonesian Opens, co-sanctioned by the European PGA Tour *Royale Jakarta Golf Club, the 27-hole JMP Design and site of the Asian Tour’s CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters, presented by PNTS, through 2013 *Emeralda Golf Club, whose 27 holes — designed by none other than Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus — have hosted the Dunhill Asian Masters and the Volvo Masters Asia. *Jababeka Golf & Country Club, a sterling 18 from the hand of 6-time major champion Nick Faldo that has earned the undying loyalty of Jakarta’s golf-savvy set. The Golf Wonderful Indonesia consortium also includes four hotel partners, three in the 5-star realm –TheHotel Mulia Senayan, The Park Lane JakartaandFour Seasons Jakarta– and another in the 4-star category:TheAston Rasuna. Tour operator PT Panorama Wisata Nusantara has secured from all of its partners special rates enabling remarkably affordable and flexible packages available only through Golf Wonderful Indonesia. “It’s important that golfers and our fellow tour operators and travel agents understand how this works,” said Le Riche. “We have secured exclusive rates with our partner courses and hotels, enabling extremely affordable packages that we intend to sell directly to golfers through golfwonderfulindonesia.com. That said, we fully expect international tour operators and travel agents to partner with us in the selling of these packages, as well, because PT Panorama Wisata Nusantara will handle all logistics on the ground here in Jakarta and across Indonesia. “We can guarantee the quality of the Golf Wonderful Indonesia experience, the reliability of our transport and logistics. But flexibility is also paramount. That’s why we’ve provided a range of hotel partners to suit the budgets of various traveling golfers. We also recognize there is life outside golf — we’re eager to customize packages to enable golfing tourists the chance to experience all that Indonesia has to offer, from Jakarta to Jawah Timur, from Yogyakarta to Bali.” The new website,www.golfwonderfulindonesia.com, is not merely the definitive source of information on golf in Indonesia. It is complemented by interactive media components including theGolf Wonderful Blog(wherein Arjuna Wayang has just been introduced as GWI’s official mascot and enlightened warrior king); the GWI Facebook page (www.facebook.com/golfwonderfulindonesia); and Twitter account (follow GWI @golfwonderful). For more information on Golf Wonderful Indonesia, contact PT Panorama Wisata Nusantara at +62 21.536.4469 or drop an email toinfo@golfwonderfulindonesia.com