Waggle... aim... fire! turkey trots into pole position

As a child I found that Turkish Delight was one of the most disappointing chocolate treats.

I hold it in particularly high disdain, as it happened to be a firm favourite of my grandad's, so it naturally became the chocolate of choice when it came around to treat time for the grandkids! Well of course, good manners always prevailed when it came around to accepting gifts.

So it is ironic that another form of Turkish Delight has hit my desk recently and it's still causing a bad taste in my mouth all these years on.

Jokes apart, I am of course referring to the immense golfing boom which is occurring not far from our doorstep in Turkey.

Just a three- hour flight away, in golfing terms not even a drive and long iron, there lies a plethora of fabulous championship golf courses which have captured the imagination of golfers across Europe.

Boasting championship golf courses designed by the likes of Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and Dave Thomas, there are dozens of world-class, affordable facilities lining up to welcome the new-found tourism injection.

So why has Turkey suddenly become the leading golf destination in the region? That's an easy one to answer price.

At a time when the tourism industry has been dealt its heaviest blow in decades, Turkey has embraced the higher spending power of the travelling golfer and has stepped up to the plate with a coordinated tourism drive to create affordable golfing breaks. And I really would like to reiterate the word "affordable".

It's exactly what the golf travel industry needed and what's clear to see are the various tourism elements within Turkey, such as the golf clubs, hotels, destination management companies and the airlines, having worked together to create an unbeatable offer which is making places such as Dubai feel the pinch more than they should.

Dubai golf courses in particular have benefited enormously over the past seven to eight years with extremely healthy overseas business at top-level rates. But as we all now know too well, the danger with any boom is that when you're on a roll and you're used to the good times, it's easy to think you're invincible.

It is also very easy to sit back in expectation of an immediate bounce back. A year on from the drop, we are still staring at low overseas rounds, which is mainly down to initiatives launched by countries such as Turkey.

There is always hope, and it is clear to see that within the local tourism circle attitudes to price are changing and this especially rings true where the golf courses are concerned.

Overseas business for Dubai courses (currently at 14 per cent of rounds) will never be the leading focus for clubs as the local market is so strong, but what was once the icing on the cake has now made our dessert a little less inspiring.

I am sure we will see golf packages become more affordable globally, I guess the question is, if and when will Dubai jump on the bandwagon?