The event organized by the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa Province in collaboration with the Sai Gon Giai Phong (SGGP) Newspaper and the Vietnam Golf Association is one of the main activities of the Vietnam Golf Festival Championship—Nha Trang 2024.
The organization board of the seminar hoped to receive opinions and comprehensive assessments of Vietnam's golf industry over the past 10 years, as well as the opportunities and challenges of the sector in the coming years.
Golf has gradually become an industry in Vietnam
In the past nearly 10 years, golf has gradually become an industry in Vietnam, making significant contributions to the country’s economy and society.
Mr. Nguyen Nam Giang, a golf expert in Vietnam, the founder of the social platforms including GolfEdit and The Golfers, and a commentator on the On Golf channel, said that golf was introduced to Vietnam more than 100 years ago with the establishment of the Cu Hill golf course (now known as Da Lat Palace Golf Course) in Da Lat City in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. When Vietnam began opening to the global economy in 1980–1990, the sport started to gain attention with the launch of the Dong Mo golf course in Son Tay Town, Hanoi, which was considered a true golf business model.
After 2000, especially from 2014-2015 onwards, golf in Vietnam has experienced rapid development, with nearly 66 golf courses, more than 120,000 players, and over 30 annual events and tournaments, not including a variety of grassroots competitions. According to statistics, Hanoi is the leading locality with the highest number of 130 golf clubs, while the HCMC Golf Association has the largest number of annual golf tournaments of nine competitions.
Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Golf Association (VGA), Vu Nguyen said that Vietnam has developed from one national championship golf tournament in 2005 into a national competition system with 4-6 championships from 2008 to 2020. The Vietnam Golf Association currently maintains three national golf tournament systems, including the VGA Tour, the Amateur Series, and the VGA Junior Tour.
The Vietnam Golf Association has also coordinated with relevant units and actively organized a series of international tournaments. From 2008 to 2015, Vietnam was still the least developed country of golf. However, since 2016, Vietnam has proactively trained specialists, referees, and management teams to operate golf activities. According to assessments, Vietnam is one of the countries with the fastest-growing golf expertise in the world and is an active member of global golf organizations.
Developing golf into an economic industry
According to experts, Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate, rich natural resources, diverse tourism, and cuisine, creating favorable conditions for the development of golf tourism. Vietnam has been honored as Asia's Best Golf Destination at the World Golf Awards eight times in a row since 2017 and named as the World's Best Golf City Destination two times by the World Golf Awards.
The Vietnam Tourism Marketing Strategy for 2030 has identified the development of infrastructure and the creation of golf tourism products as one of the key directions for the growth of the Vietnamese tourism industry.
It is expected that Vietnam will have an additional 30-40 new golf courses by 2030, raising the total number of golf courses in the country to 99-110 courses.
Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the SGGP Newspaper, Nguyen Ngoc Anh, highlighted the direction of sustainable tourism development towards potential markets. The Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy until 2030 has identified golf tourism as an important specialized product that needs strong investment and development in the coming years.
However, golf tourism products in Vietnam are still very limited due to the small number of golf courses, and the proportion of international tourists playing golf among the total number of international visitors to Vietnam is not high. The collaboration between travel agencies and golf courses is still restricted; golf tourism has not yet been connected with other types of tourism such as MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) or caravans. There are no professional tournaments, connections between golf courses, or systematic solutions for promoting and advertising golf tourism products. These are issues that need to be addressed and resolved.
Mr. Pham Hung Vinh, a representative of Sandals Joint Stock Company, said that golf is considered a strength of the green economy sector. The global golf tourism industry is currently valued at around US$25 billion with an annual growth rate of approximately 6 percent. There are about 42 million golfers worldwide, presenting high growth potential. In addition, golf tourists tend to spend significantly more than regular visitors. Therefore, it needs specific support policies, tax incentives, and other measures to promote the growth of the golf tourism and economy sectors.
