Golfasian - Asian Golf Holiday Experts in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Laos & Myanmar
BANGKOK, Thailand – Golfasian Co. Ltd., Southeast Asia’s leading golf tour operator, has reported a 23% increase in turnover for the 12-month period ending November 2009. This boost in golf holiday traffic runs counter to the largely sluggish demand in global tourism and belies the negative travel perceptions prompted by Thailand’s ongoing political disquiet. Moreover, Bangkok-based Golfasian (www.golfasian.com) has expanded its headquarters in the Thai capital and established satellite operations in the Thai cities of Hua Hin, Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai, while founding similar beachheads in Vietnam (Saigon and Hanoi), Cambodia (Siem Reap) and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur). “This expansion will further enhance the company’s service reputation and market-leading position with Asian golfers and travel agents, but also with golfers and our new partners in North America and Europe,” says Mark Siegel, managing director of Golfasian. “While most companies here complained about the drop in arrivals during 2009, and cut their marketing expenditures, we increased our spending. By reaching out to overseas agents and golfing clients, we’ve been able to convince them of the tremendous value of our golf tours, especially multi-destination tours and those which combine golf and cultural travel.” Golfasian spearheads “Golf In A Kingdom: The Thai Golf Experience” (www.golfinakingdom.com), a regional golf course and hotel cooperative in Thailand. It is also the official tour operator of a similar consortium in Vietnam, The Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail (www.hochiminhgolftrail.com). Siegel believes that Golfasian’s growth over the last 12 months has resulted in part from a major marketing push in North America, launched in cooperation with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (www.tourismthailand.org), and Australia. Both regions had been essentially untapped by SE Asian golf tour operators until now. Golfasian and TAT collaborated in early November on large-scale North American media FAM. However, Siegel also believes the diversity of Golfasian tours has kindled interest from all markets, long and short haul. He pointed to the fact that Golfasian now books trips to the Malaysian island of Langkawi (home to the elegant Golf Club at Datai Bay), or the East Malaysian hub of Kota Kinabalu – home to the posh Shangri La Rasa Ria Resort. “Our determination to provide multi-destination, multi-country trips that combine golf and culture and great shopping has really paid off,” says Siegel, who added that Golfasian is seeking additional agent partners in select countries across North America and Europe. “It’s more complicated on our end; more relationships must be established ahead of time, of course. But it has been well worth it. “This may sound heretical to some, but you can’t play golf every day. We now offer a trip that starts in Bangkok, heads up to Siem Reap (Cambodia), then goes over to Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. There’s great golf and at least one UNESCO World Heritage site in each destination. No company in the world does that trip. You couldn’t even get a quote.” Siegel believes that golfers in North American, Australia and Europe are aware that golf course development is booming in Asia, that Y.E. Yang was the first Asian male to win the PGA this summer, one of golf’s major championships. “But they’re only now realizing just how good the resort golf really is here in Asia, and how high the standard of resort accommodation is, and how affordable they both are by Western standards,” he adds. In its “Best In Travel 2010” guide, published in October, Lonely Planet named Thailand the no. 2 “Best-Value Destination” in the world, calling it a “perennially good value”, along with being “one of the cheapest long-haul holidays for European holidaymakers… visitors are always spoilt for choice regarding accommodation.” Golfasian has complemented this value proposition by spending significant time and resources on enhancing its web presence. In addition to the Golfasian brand, the company now owns and operates the Phuket golf travel-focused Phuket-golfthailand.com; a Hua Hin-focused site, fairway-golf-tours.com; the Thailand golf instruction leader GolfThink.com; and the Internet’s only two blogs dealing exclusively with golf in Thailand, ThailandGolfZone.com and ThailandGolfBlog.com. Frequent updates cover golf course reviews, destination information, guidance on the best places eat, and holiday-arranging advice. This information helps golfers ensure their various vacation components match strict individual selection criteria. More and more people are now using the Internet to plan their own vacations, Siegel asserts, and this evidenced by activity on golfasian.com, where traffic is up 192% (as measured in September 2009, compared to September 2008). The company’s online booking and reservation system allows golfers to get immediate pricing and confirmation of custom golf tours and tee times. “We’re in a unique position on the web,” Siegel says. “We offer the means for experienced travellers to arrange things themselves. For example, online tee times can be booked at any of 65 golf courses throughout Thailand via golfasian.com. But we’ve also positioned the site to inform and educate first-time visitors – and we’re happy to take these customers by the hand and advise them on where to go, where to play, and when. “Here’s an example: In Thailand there is a dry season – fall, winter and spring – and a rainy season (which I prefer to call the ‘green’ season) in June, July and August. In the green season, it’s windy and it rains like clockwork almost every afternoon. But predictable afternoon rain is easily dealt with by playing in the mornings, which is the preferred tee time for most golfers anyway. Moreover, not only is morning golf a certainty, the best bargains for green fees and accommodations are to be had this same time of year. And the courses are nearly empty.”
  • Chat with Golfasian
    • Four friends, 6 rounds of golf in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru. Arrangements by GolfAsian were great and all courses were different but good quality. All transfer drivers were helpful and punctual but our favourite was "Johnson" in KL. Minor criticisms - water was not supplied and our first 9 at Kota Permai was marred by major fairway renovation. All in all we had a fun time and we will be back.
      John Craig Avatar
      John Craig
    • Nous revenons de 10 jours en Thailande, pour du golf et des visites, tout à était parfait, guides français, hotels, golfs...
      merci Lalinee
      Anyta Remoleur Aynié Avatar
      Anyta Remoleur Aynié
    • The most professional golf events I have ever played in, highly recommend Mark and the crew
      Phil Smith Avatar
      Phil Smith
    • Thinking of going to Asia and not sure where to start??? You can put your mind at ease if you connect with Golfasian Just spent 12 days in Amazing Thailand and everything was handled to a tee! http://travelinggolfer.net/2019/10/30/asia-on-your-mind/
      Claudio DeMarchi Avatar
      Claudio DeMarchi
    • Very good service for golf tour
      John Nguyen Avatar
      John Nguyen
    • I spent 2 weeks in Thailand playing 6 rounds in the Bangkok area, fantastic organisation from the guys at GA and nothing was too much hassle, definitely recommend.
      Brian Gibson Avatar
      Brian Gibson
    • Good service. The ability to get tee times even at peak season. Competitive prices
      Jeffrey Barnes Avatar
      Jeffrey Barnes
    • This was our second trip organised by GolfAsian and hopefully not the last. Our contact, Jim, has been very helpful and patient with various changes in our plans. All 8 of us were very happy with the golf courses and hotel accommodation. The pickups were flawless and the drivers always very competent. Highly reccomend this company.
      Sue Armstrong Avatar
      Sue Armstrong
    • Golfasian organised a trip for 8 golfers to the Pattaya area of Thailand in November. The planning and organisation prior to he trip was great and we were kept up to date at all times. The staff and drivers during our trip were excellent and I would recommend Golfasian to anyone considering a South East Asian golf trip.
      Shaun Coutts Avatar
      Shaun Coutts
    • We just completed our trip to Bangkok and played at Alpine and Thai. Everything was planned by Golf Asian very professionally and the trip was awesome. Would surely recommend to others and will use them again for future golf trips. Keep up the good work.
      Gorav Jaitly Avatar
      Gorav Jaitly
  • Sign up for the latest Asian Golf News

    Breaking news, cool tips, great resources... Sign up for our FREE Golf In Asia Newsletter!
  •   How to Plan Your Dream Golf Holiday

    Learn How to Plan Your Golf Holiday to Asia...

    Want to put together an unforgettable Asian golf holiday? Learn everything needed with this FREE 6-step trip planner.

    ×