Golf tourism still to be unwrapped

The Hanoi Golf Cultural Exchange Week, which took place on October 17-23, provided a model that could be replicated across many golfing destinations across the country. About 360 international golfers participated, playing at world-class clubs owned by BRG Group through the event, and had the opportunity to visit famous tourist attractions around Hanoi and neighbouring localities.

Golf tourism still to be unwrapped

Anthony Lim, a golfer from Singapore said, “Vietnam has some beautiful courses. International golfers will know more about Vietnamese courses if marketing activities are carried out strongly. The important thing lies in your marketing and brand development policy.”

Hanoi is prioritising promoting golf and leisure tourism along with local culture and cuisine. It aims to take advantage of golf tourists, who traditionally spend much more than regular tourists on average. The city recently overtook such famous Asian tourism hubs as Bangkok, Beijing, Seoul, and Kyoto to become “Asia’s Leading City Break Destination 2022” at the World Travel Awards.

Dang Huong Giang, director of Hanoi’s Department of Tourism said, “Golf tourism will be one of the important tourism products of Hanoi in the future. It will help Hanoi attract international tourists, especially those with high spending levels from the Korean, Japanese, American, or European markets.”

According to Pham Thanh Tri, vice chairman of the Vietnam Golf Tourism Association (VIGTA), besides world-class courses, Vietnam also has a unique culture that golfers can explore, especially those from Northeast Asia. “Out of 10 South Koreans who come to Vietnam, eight go to a course at least once,” he said.

However, the number of international golfers heading here is only a small part of the overall amount of foreign travellers visiting the country. One reason that may hinder the attraction of Vietnamese golf is the higher costs for related tours compared to other countries like Thailand or Malaysia. VIGTA’s Tri said that the cost of golf tourism products in Vietnam was higher than elsewhere because the sport is still subject to high tax rates, including 20 per cent excise tax and 10 per cent VAT.

Meanwhile, Thailand and Malaysia have long-established package tours associated with golf tourism thanks to encouraging policies from their governments and close-knit cooperation between clubs and related service providers such as hotels, restaurants, and travel agencies.

Before 2020, Thailand, for example, has more than 300 world-class courses offering affordable prices, and 9 per cent of its total 35 million international travellers come for golf. In Vietnam, the rate is less than 1 per cent.

Statistics from the Vietnam Golf Tourism Association show that before the outbreak of the pandemic, Vietnam welcomed 1.5 million international golfers out of a total of 18 million international travellers in 2019, with a revenue of $195 million. The total industry was valued at $32.8 billion.

Another reason making the sport less attractive here is the shortage of convenient connections between luxury accommodations, restaurants, and courses. “Even the connection between resorts and golf courses in a complex is uncoordinated. Sometimes we can book a flight, but cannot book a room and vice versa though they are located in one complex,” said a representative from Global Travel.

A Toan Cau Travel representative said that the number of its VIP guests booking golf resort packages had increased by 40 per cent this year. “On average, about 20-30 guests are asking about the package per day. They mainly come from South Korea and Germany and wish to play golf during business trips or holidays,” he said.

Vietnam has up to 100 golf courses in operation, of which 32 are of national 5-star standard combined with luxury resorts. The number of courses is expected to increase to 200 by 2025, with the total number of players reaching about 300,000 people, including Vietnamese and foreigners living here, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

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