Golfers from over 18 countries flew into Thailand earlier this month to compete in two major amateur golf events hosted by Grand Beach Resort & Villas in Hua Hin and Avani Pattaya Resort & Spa in Pattaya.
The Centara World Masters, which is now in its ninth year, attracted over 400 players, plus a further 80 non-playing partners to a week of golf and entertainment in Hua Hin. This was followed by the Avani Pattaya 2Ball with nearly 200 players competing at Pattaya’s best courses.
Organised by Golfasian and Go Golfing, these two tournaments were sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand promoting Amazing Thailand.
Mark Siegel, Managing Director at Golfasian, said: “We are seeing a great interest from international golf vacationers for participation events and expect to increase the number of tournaments on offer in more destinations in 2024. This is great for Asia’s hospitality, as these vacationers tend to stay in the 4 and 5-star hotels and spend money with the golf clubs, the caddies, plus local taxis, and restaurants.”
Championship golf courses including Black Mountain Golf Club, Banyan Golf Club, Chee Chan Golf Resort, Laem Chabang Country Club, Siam Country Club Rolling Hills, and Siam Country Club Plantation hosted the two events, bringing welcome additional revenue during what is normally their low season.
Tom Thrussell, Centara Hotels & Resorts‘ Vice President Marketing, said: “At Centara we have a growing portfolio of properties in major golfing destinations across Thailand, Vietnam, the Middle East, and Japan amongst others. To be a part of an event as spectacular as the Centara World Masters not only supports us in positioning ourselves as the go-to holiday brand for golfing holidays in Asia, but it also enables us to demonstrate our warm and gracious Thai-style hospitality and hopefully provide the 400-plus golfers in attendance with a truly memorable stay experience”
Peter McCarthy, Managing Director at Australian-based Go Golfing, said: “The appeal of these types of major participation events is worldwide and is definitely growing rapidly. We know that golf here is the hero and that’s what gets people to come, however, at the same time, we have built into all our tournaments social and entertainment events which fosters the fun and the camaraderie.”
Golfasian have more tournaments planned during the second half of 2023 in Phuket, Vietnam’s Danang, and a return to Pattaya later this year. Due to their success this month, both tour operators are now considering hosting more tournaments in 2024 with new destinations in their plans.