Unlike traditional tourists, guests participating in golf tourism often come and come back many times, besides the fee to play golf, they also pay for high-class hotel and restaurant services... Golf tourism development not only helps diversify products, improve tourism competitiveness, but also attracts guests with high spending ability, long stay, and stimulates the luxury resort segment. This is also a type suitable for the current period of Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control because it meets safety criteria, ensures distance, and avoids large crowds. Those are the reasons why many countries identify golf tourism as the "golden egg" of the green economy.

At the recent seminar in Quang Ninh with the theme "Golf tourism - a new advantage for Vietnam to attract international visitors", experts also said that Vietnam is a potential market for this type of tourism. According to Chairman of the Vietnam Golf Tourism Association Nguyen Van Linh: Vietnam has four strengths to develop golf tourism: The first is a favorable geographical position; the second is the potential of culture and people; the third is the diversity of the cuisine; and fourth is the development of golf course infrastructure. Currently, our country has nearly 100 golf courses in operation, of which more than 30 golf courses meet regional and international standards. Most of the yards are newly built with modern design in beautiful locations, attached to resorts spread along the three northern, central and southern regions.

Besides, the number of golfers in Vietnam is also increasing. General Director of VGS Media-Golf News Nguyen Hoang Minh said that in 2019-2020, the number of golf players is about 26,000; In 2021, this number has increased to 51 thousand people despite being in the epidemic-affected phase. Overcoming a series of "heavyweight" competitors in golf tourism such as Dubai, USA, New Zealand, China, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia..., in 2019 and 2021, Vietnam has been recognized as "Score". to the World's Best Golf", and for 5 consecutive years (from 2017 to 2021) to become "Asia's Best Golf Destination" as voted by the World Golf Awards, the most prestigious award in the field of Golf. In the world. These are proofs that Vietnam's golf tourism is fully capable and competitive to attract tourists both in the domestic and international markets.

However, according to experts, in order to really position itself on the world golf tourism map, this type of tourism in Vietnam still needs to be exploited more professionally to be worthy of its potential. General Secretary of the Vietnam Golf Association Le Hung Nam said that in the region, Thailand is a golfing destination of Southeast Asia with the number of international tourists playing golf accounting for 9% of visitors each year, but in our country , this rate is very low, only 1%.

Explaining this, Director of Vietfoot Travel Company Pham Duy Nghia said that Vietnam does not have travel companies specializing in golf tourism. While countries such as Thailand and Malaysia have formed well-priced package tours associated with golf tourism thanks to the support from the government, the hotel, restaurant and travel service supply system, etc. Our country still lacks policies to facilitate the development of professional golf. In addition, the link between golf course management units and tour operators is still loose, so there are no unique golf tourism products, and international tourists still have difficulty finding information about golf courses. tours associated with this type of sport.

Visitors participating in golf tourism not only play golf but also need to experience tourism at the destination. Therefore, Mr. Pham Ngoc Thuy, Director of Quang Ninh Department of Tourism, said that in order to create attraction for golf tourism, besides perfecting the types of golf courses, it is necessary to combine golf with tourism activities. local strengths to make a difference, culturally attractive and experiential. In addition, Vietnam needs to focus on organizing professional and amateur golf tournaments, golf seminars, training courses and coaching sessions to attract golfers and tourists who are really interested in the sport. This is both at home and abroad.

According to Deputy General Director of FLC Group Do Viet Hung, the Vietnam Golf Association needs to support in promoting and connecting golf courses to create a golf belt and tour route between many destinations to help increase the experience for tourists. guest. Many experts emphasized that Vietnam also needs to adjust the price of the golf tour accordingly, ensuring competitiveness compared to the common ground of Southeast Asian countries. Deputy Director of the General Department of Tourism Ha Van Sieu emphasized that the application of information technology should be enhanced to promote exchanges and connections between golf clubs; Localities also need to support travel businesses in connecting golf courses, thereby expanding golf tourism between locations. “Next time, we have to act quickly, confidently, and promote golf tourism to attract tourists. If we don't grasp the opportunities well, we will let them slip away and tourists can look to other places," said Sieu.

According to Electronic Nhandan