{"id":18972,"date":"2014-09-22T09:50:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T09:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/danang-celebrates-5-years-of-golf\/"},"modified":"2014-09-22T09:50:00","modified_gmt":"2014-09-22T09:50:00","slug":"danang-celebrates-5-years-of-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2014\/09\/danang-celebrates-5-years-of-golf\/","title":{"rendered":"Danang Celebrates 5 Years of Golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does it take for a region to become a successful, sought-after international golf tourism destination?<\/span><\/span>
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Great courses, attractive prices, easy access, an inviting climate, high quality accommodation, beaches, mountains and scenery, a safe environment, interesting local food, culture and history and friendly people are all part of the perfect formula.<\/span><\/div>\n

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But few golf destinations can claim all these ingredients, so when a region has the whole package, success inevitably follows.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Vietnam\u2019s booming Central Coast, which this month celebrates five years of golf, ticks all\u00a0 boxes. The result has been growth from zero to more than 100,000 rounds a year in just half a decade.<\/span><\/div>\n

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This month marks five years since the first rounds were played at Montgomerie Links Vietnam. Now, the Central Coast, promoted internationally as Golf Coast Vietnam, is one of Asia\u2019s top golf destinations.<\/span><\/div>\n

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More than 250,000 rounds have been played there since September 2009, a remarkable achievement for an area with no previous golf history and with the nearest course still more than 500 kilometres away.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\n\"unnamedThe three courses near Danang \u2013 Montgomerie Links, Danang Golf Club and Laguna Lang Co \u2013 have each added a new dimension to playing golf in Asia. Designed by three modern greats of the game \u2013 Colin Montgomerie, Greg Norman and Sir Nick Faldo \u2013 a further reason for their success is a joint marketing campaign, Golf Coast Vietnam (www.golfcoastvietnam.com) that promotes the region rather than any one course.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe co-operate with each other in bringing the region to the attention of golf travellers,\u201d says Golf Coast Vietnam chairman, Joe Millar, the general manager of Danang Golf Club. \u201cWe have welcomed golfers from all around the world and the feedback is always extremely positive. Golfers and non-golfers alike just love coming here.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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The influx of golf visitors to Danang since 2009 is part of a tourism boom that will see international visitors pass one million in 2014, 35 percent above 2013 arrivals.<\/span><\/div>\n

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As Vietnam\u2019s fourth largest city, Danang has long been a popular destination for Vietnamese and foreign visitors. Three UNESCO World Heritage attractions \u2013 the ancient trading port of Hoi An, the citadel in the former imperial city of Hue, and the My Son (Hindu) Sanctuary \u2013 make it a region of immense cultural and historic importance.<\/span><\/div>\n

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The number of direct international flights has grown steadily since a new airport terminal opened two years ago. Today, direct flights from Singapore (Silkair), Hong Kong (Dragonair), Kuala Lumpur (AirAsia), Tokyo (Vietnam Airlines), Seoul (Asiana and Korean Air) complement charter flights from Shanghai and Beijing and numerous daily flights from Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Dalat, Nha Trang, Pleiku and other local cities.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Executive director of Montgomerie Links Vietnam, Jon Tomlinson, says the region\u2019s major golf tourism markets are South Korea and Japan, following a slight decline in the former primary market of China due to political tensions between the two countries earlier this year. Australia and the United Kingdom are the leading western long-haul markets.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cIndigenous Vietnamese golf rounds are also showing excellent growth, with 30pc of rounds played at Montgomerie Links, despite only a reported 10,000 active golfers nationally,\u201d Jon Tomlinson says.<\/span><\/div>\n
Mark Siegel, the owner of Golfasian Vietnam (www.golfasian.com) the leading inbound golf tourism company in Vietnam, says he knew the region was destined to become Vietnam\u2019s best golf destination when he first visited five years ago.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cIt has everything golfers want and will undoubtedly grow in stature in the future. Without doubt, Danang is already among the top golf destinations in Asia,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Golf visitors to the Central Coast are invariably especially impressed with the quality and diversity of the golf experience. Each course is different. Montgomerie Links is a beautifully presented resort-style layout, Danang Golf Club has exposed sand dunes and a distinct links feel, while Laguna Lang Co is a multi-environment layout with jungle, creeks, rice paddy, beach and sandy blowouts on the course.<\/span><\/div>\n

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A fourth course, Ba Na Hills in the Danang hinterland, is currently under construction and is expected to open in late 2015 or early 2016.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Plentiful high quality accommodation is available for all budgets. Many excellent resorts are located on famous My Khe beach, including two Golf Coast Vietnam members, Fusion Maia and The Ocean Villas.<\/span><\/div>\n

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General Manager of The Ocean Villas, Erik Billgren, says the resort has experienced a significant year-on-year increase in golf tourists as well as visitors from Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Japan due to new direct international flights.<\/span><\/div>\n

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“The fact that return guest rates are ever increasing is a testament to the wonderful and challenging courses in the region, which makes visiting golfers want to come back for more,\u201d he adds.<\/span><\/div>\n

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For more information visit\u00a0www.golfcoastvietnam.com\u00a0or for bookings visit\u00a0www.golfasian.com<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What does it take for a region to become a successful, sought-after international golf tourism destination? Great courses, attractive prices, easy access, an inviting climate, high quality accommodation, beaches, mountains and scenery, a safe environment, interesting local food, culture and history and friendly people are all part of the perfect formula. But few golf destinations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}