“Vietnam Golf & Leisure Awards contribute to promoting Vietnamese golf tourism!”  08:30, 12/08/2022

As an important member of the jury, how do you evaluate the Vietnam Golf & Leisure Awards?

In recent years, in addition to the increasing number of golf courses being invested and put into operation, the demand for golf training and regular golfers has also increased rapidly. The Vietnam Golf & Leisure Awards have great significance in promoting the sustainable development of the golf movement, motivating golfers to showcase their talents, developing the golf industry, and encouraging golf courses to upgrade services to promote Vietnam as the most attractive golf destination in the region and in the world. The award contributes to attracting investors and tourists to Vietnam.

This year's event will honor many golf favorites. In your opinion, will this help the Award attract more attention from the community?

Golf is becoming more and more popular and loved by more people. Golfers not only go to the course to play golf but also want to combine it with sightseeing, relax activities and explore the surrounding landmarks and landscapes. Therefore, it is necessary to honor relevant service providers such as hotels, resorts, airlines, etc. Most of the units nominated and received the award are large enterprises with a certain position in the market, so being honored at the Vietnam Golf & Entertainment Awards will also attract the attention of customers. partners, customers as well as the golfing community.

How will the Vietnam Golf & Leisure Awards affect the Vietnam golf tourism industry?

Vietnam is considered as the ideal golf destination of Asia with diverse terrain, long coastline with world famous beautiful beaches, hills, majestic landscapes and tropical climate. These are favorable conditions for investment and development of golf courses and golf tourism. Individuals and organizations honored at the Vietnam Golf & Leisure Awards such as hotels, resorts, airlines, etc. will also have the opportunity to promote their brands and attract a large number of domestic customers and international golf lovers. This is the driving force to help golf tourism in particular and Vietnam tourism in general develop more and more.

What solutions has the VNAT have to stimulate golf tourism in the country and the international market?

In Vietnam's tourism development strategy to 2030 approved by the Prime Minister, the development of infrastructure and the construction of golf tourism products is one of the key orientations in the development of Vietnam's tourism industry.

Golf tourism is one of the main services of Vietnam's tourism. Tourism associated with golf is one of the services that Vietnam is interested in and promoted in recent times. Greg Norman has been appointed as Vietnam's golf tourism Ambassador. The Ambassador accompanied and supported VNAT to build impressive and effective short films introducing Vietnamese golf tourism.

VNAT has also coordinated with the VGA and localities strong in golf tourism to organize professional golf tournaments and movements to promote and attract golf tourists.

In your opinion, what role does golf tourism play in the development priorities of Vietnam's tourism industry today?

Unlike traditional tourists, guests participating in golf tourism often come and return many times. In addition to the fee to play golf, they also pay for high-class hotel and restaurant services. Therefore, developing golf tourism not only helps diversify products, improve tourism competitiveness, but also attracts customers with high spending ability, long stay, and stimulates the luxury resort segment. Vietnam is considered to have favorable conditions for developing golf tourism, so VNAT always encourages and creates favorable conditions for promoting and developing this type of tourism.

So what do golf courses need to do to promote beauty and potential to the world?

Golf tourism is not only to play golf but also to experience tourism at the destination. However, the connection between golf course management units and tour operators is still loose, so there are no unique golf tourism products. International tourists also have difficulty finding information about tours associated with this type of sport. Therefore, golf courses should strengthen cooperation with travel businesses, increase application of information technology to promote exchanges and connections between golf clubs, thereby expanding golf tourism between locations. Participating in international tourism fairs in target markets with many golf tourists such as Japan, Korea, Western Europe, North America, etc.

In your opinion, what are the top golf courses in Vietnam today?

Vietnam has many good golf courses with high-quality facilities and tourism services that have made a strong impression on golfers, such as Sky Lake, Hoiana Shores, Laguna - Lang Co, Nova World Phan Thiet, The Bluffs Ho Tram, etc.

When choosing a destination, what amenities will golfers pay attention to?

In addition to serving golf, many golf courses also combine with complex services such as resorts, restaurants, and health care, etc. to become an ideal choice for golfers. Besides, the geographical location of golf courses in Vietnam also meets the maximum demands of players. Golfers can choose golf courses in the inner city to save time or courses farther away to both play golf and combine relaxation. Reasonable cost is also a factor that attracts both domestic and foreign golfers to Vietnam's golf courses. With the existing advantages, the golf market in Vietnam is forecasted to develop even more strongly in the future.

What are the goals and plans to develop golf tourism in the coming time of VNAT?

Developing golf tourism is one of the key orientations in the development of Vietnam's tourism industry in the coming time. In order to develop golf tourism, VNAT strengthens the promotion of golf tourism to domestic and foreign tourists, in addition to encouraging and promoting connections in golf tourism development, hosting golf events. international golf tournament, improving the quality of attached facilities such as resorts, restaurants, health care, etc.

Golf tourism will be a strong product that Vietnam focuses on exploiting and promoting. VNAT will work with partners to consider so that Vietnam can host major international golf tournaments, gradually developing an attractive golf destination.

Latest statistics from R&A and National Golf Foundation:

• Number of golfers in Vietnam: about 100,000 people
• Number of golf courses in Vietnam: nearly 100 courses
• 32 golf courses meet international 5-star standards

According to the International Association of Golf Tourism Organizations (IAGTO):

• There are over 60 million golfers in the world.
• Purpose of travel golf ranks 3rd in terms of travel motives in Asia.
• Globally, there are about 700 golf tourism companies in 61 countries that are members of IAGTO, each year performing about $2.5 billion in service contracts, serving about 1.9 million golfers.

The golf awards Vietnam achieved:

• Asia's Best Golf Destination for 4 consecutive years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 by the World Golf Awards Organization (WGA).
• World's Best Golf Destination 2019 and 2021 by WGA.