“Cooperation Will Help Vietnamese Golf Courses Grow Stronger”  07:43, 06/10/2025

According to statistics, Vietnam currently has nearly 100 operating 18-hole golf courses (with approximately 150,000 regular players) and is expected to reach 200 courses and attract at least 200,000 domestic players by 2030. This rapid expansion has led to intense competition in price and service - with constant discounts, promotions, and infrastructure upgrades. However, the fragmented, independent competition among golf courses has also revealed significant limitations to the overall growth of Vietnam’s golf sector.

Golf Boom and Rising Competition

According to the Vietnam Golf Association (VGA), since most courses still operate independently, the result is a fragmented service quality and inconsistent player experience. This lack of uniformity reduces the overall attractiveness of Vietnam as a golf destination.

The VGA also points out that the lack of connection between courses is slowing down the effort to build a national golf brand for Vietnam. Although Vietnam has been recognized for years as a leading golf destination, the proportion of international visitors who actually play golf remains modest - while in Thailand, this group accounts for about 8–9% of total visitors. With a unified marketing strategy, Thailand successfully connects hundreds of high-end courses under one message, firmly establishing its image as the “Golf Capital of Asia.”

From a commercial standpoint, fragmented marketing disperses budgets and reduces effectiveness. The absence of a “one-stop” coordination point also makes it difficult for international travel and airline partners to build seamless service chains. In contrast, Thailand’s golf course association collaborates with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to sell multi-course travel packages under a unified message, organizing annual marketplaces that bring together dozens of member courses — resulting in far greater professionalism and deal-closing efficiency. If Vietnam’s golf courses continue to compete independently, they risk missing out on the global golf tourism network.

The Benefits of Collaboration Among Golf Courses

When investors join forces, the market “pie” doesn’t get smaller - it expands. A network of allied courses can design multi-region experience packages, such as multi-day tours playing several courses from North to South, interwoven with leisure, cuisine, and sightseeing, making the journey richer, longer, and more valuable.

At the same time, promoting under a unified message (e.g., “Golf in Vietnam”) ensures consistent destination branding across international channels, allowing marketing budgets to be used more efficiently and boosting market impact compared to fragmented approaches. Thailand’s example shows that thanks to such coordination, the country welcomes around 400,000 international golf tourists each year, contributing roughly 8 billion baht (2023) to the local economy - a clear testament to the power of collective effort.

Operationally, an alliance allows knowledge sharing and service standardization: members can jointly develop quality benchmarks (turf conditions, reception process, clubhouse standards, caddie training, equipment maintenance, etc.), and act as a single coordination hub for travel agencies, airlines, and global partners - structuring coherent tour packages and minimizing service disruptions.
At a policy level, a collective voice allows the industry to address shared issues - sustainability standards, procedures, land use, and taxation - in a far more systematic and effective way than isolated efforts could achieve

Vietnam Golf Course Owners Alliance – A Strategic Step Forward

According to plan, the Vietnam Golf Course Owners Summit (VNGOS 2025) will take place on October 31, 2025, at Laguna Lăng Cô Golf Resort, Huế.
The event is held under the guidance of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Hue People’s Committee, co-organized by the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, the Department of Physical Education and Sports, and Hue’s Departments of Culture and Tourism. The Vietnam Golf Association (VGA) will cooperate with 54 Group - an international golf development and management consultancy - to lay the groundwork for forming a Vietnam Golf Course Owners Alliance.

This Alliance is expected to become a common forum for investors, operators, and the broader Vietnamese golf community - connecting stakeholders toward the shared goal of aligning State, Investor, and Golfer interests.

Initially, the Alliance will help standardize operational and service benchmarks across golf courses and provide a framework for collective problem-solving within the industry.

These will also be the key discussion points at VNGOS 2025, where delegates will outline a roadmap for harmonizing golf economics with environmental and community sustainability.

Mr. Le Kien Thanh, President of the Vietnam Golf Association, emphasized: “Collaboration among investors will create a synergistic strength that elevates Vietnam’s golf industry on the regional map. An alliance will allow us to share management experience, standardize services, and jointly promote the image of an attractive Vietnam to international friends. This is the only path for Vietnamese golf to grow stronger and more sustainably in the coming years.”

In summary, as Vietnam’s golf industry accelerates, collaboration and connection among course owners are not just beneficial - they are indispensable conditions for sustainable growth and global competitiveness.

Information about the Vietnam Golf Course Owners Summit 2025:

• Website: www.golfownerssummit.com
•  Hotline: Ms. Hà Phương – (+84) 986 041 234

(Source: The Vietnam Golf Association - VGA)