With Bintan’s stretches of sandy beaches, plethora of quality resorts and four championship golf courses, it is little wonder that the Indonesian destination is recognised as a paradise for golfers.
Bintan Resorts International’s director of marketing, Asad Shiraz, said: “Bintan’s accessibility from Singapore and its award-winning golf courses come together to strengthen our position in providing avid golfers with the perfect golf game and scenic views.”
Besides drawing leisure golfers, the destination is actively looking to attract major golfing events and corporate groups that desire a game on the greens in between meetings.
Shiraz noted that the golf clubs in Bintan offer corporate golf packages that come with event management support.
In fact, most of the golf course here are built with function rooms and venues that can host private gatherings.
Bintan Lagoon Resort, for example, has 470 guestroom, two 18-hole golf courses and an impressive selection of event spaces. Last year it launched a three-storey conference centre that houses a column-free hall for up to 1,300 guests in a standing cocktail setup, a foyer on the ground floor for 500 pax, and an outdoor roof terrace for accommodate 200 guests.
The conference centre comes in addition to eight existing meeting rooms, the largest being able to accommodate 400 pax in a theatre setting.
Having all event and recreational facilities under one roof makes its easy for delegates to shuttle from their rooms to meetings and onwards to the golf course for a game, remarked a spokesperson with Bintan Lagoon Resort.
“With us being the largest MICE facility here, we see high demand from both local and international clients,” added the spokesperson.
The resort recently hosted a meeting that included a full day of golf for its 100 participants.
Also popular among corporate groups is Ria Bintan Golf Club, which boasts a 27-hole championship course set amid lush landscapes and natural surroundings.
Harris Farouk Abdullah, resort operations manager, Ria Bintan, told TTGmice that some 30 corporate golf groups head to the resort annually.
“Corporate demand is positive,” said Harris, adding that greater growth could be expected with the progressive closure of golf clubs in Singapore.
Michael Chiay, senior director, meetings & events, Asia Pacific with Carlson Wagonlit Travel, said: “Bintan is very popular with golfers from Japan and South Korea, as golf is a popular sport (with people from) these countries. It does well as a golfing destination because of its lower costs in comparison with Singapore and because courses are generally open to the public.”
So popular is Bintan for golf that bookings must be made way in advance, noted Chermaine Tan, FCm Travel Solutions’ senior MICE planner.
Meanwhile, Bintan’s golf draws are evolving with the ongoing upgrading works at the Laguna Bintan Golf Club within Banyan Tree Bintan. While the course is being reduced to a nine-hole facility, it will boast a “world-class five-star” golfing experience once it reopens next May.
The 64-villa Banyan Tree Bintan also supports corporate events with a venue that overlooks the island’s sandy shores. This space is perfect for business powwows involving 32 delegates.
Iskandar Malaysia in Johor is leveraging its 15 internationally rated golf courses to attract local and international companies to hold their events in the southern state and include golf in their itinerary.
The golf courses in Iskandar Malaysia range from easy ones for leisure seekers to those that are more challenging and suitable for tournaments.
Many of them bear the design hallmarks of golf legends like Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer (the 18-hole championship golf course at Legends Golf & Country Resort), Max Wexler and Akira Mamiya (the 54-hole championship course at Tanjong Puteri Golf Resort), Robert Trent Jones Jr (the 36-hole championship course at Pulai Springs Resort), and Ross Watson (who applied the Risk Reward design principle to the 18-hole international standard golf course at Horizon Hills Golf & Country Resort).
Come 2016, two new championship golf courses will open in Desaru, namely Els Club Desaru Coast and Els Club Desaru Valley, fuelling further interest in Johor as a golfer’s paradise.
But rather than see the new additions as a competitor, Joyce Yap, assistant director of sales and marketing at Tanjong Puteri Golf Resort in Pasir Gudang, Johor, opined that both golf courses will complement existing ones. Her reasoning: “The brand will attract golfers to Johor, and other courses will also benefit as golfers love to move around and play on different courses.”
In late 2014, the Iskandar Malaysia Destination Marketing work group saw the immense opportunity to incorporate golf as a sector to complement the Family Fun Holiday promotion theme.
Co-chairman of the work group, Mohammad Rosly Md Selamat, explained: “A plan was drawn up and golf tourism was marketed to both domestic and foreign associations and companies based in Johor, the Klang Valley and Singapore as an add-on to MICE activities in Johor.”
Members of the work group comprise representatives from Iskandar Malaysia Development Authority, Johor Tourism, Tourism Malaysia, Malaysia Association of Hotels and representatives from major golf clubs in Iskandar Malaysia.
Said Rosly, “The Family Fun Destination would be a perfect fit for your corporate event jigsaw – the children enjoying our LEGOland Malaysia resort, the wife indulging in retail therapy at the Johor Premium Outlets and spa after, while the head of household making pars and birdies at our golf courses.
“We presented this formula to local DMCs in Sabah and Sarawak and received positive feedback from companies. They are keen to venture to Iskandar Malaysia for meetings or company events and combine their stay with a family holiday.
“We will make it easy for MICE planners to organise golf tournaments in Iskandar Malaysia.”
Rosly, who is also senior vice president, Economic & Investment at Iskandar Regional Development Authority, added that the destination is facing fierce competition from golf courses in Indonesia and Thailand, while Batam and Bintan are favourite playgrounds for event organisers in Singapore.
He stressed: “We need to edge in and get a piece of the cake.”
Jef Kong, general manager at Le Grandeur Palm Resort in Senai which offers three golf courses, agreed. He opined: “We need to make Johor easily accessible to Singaporeans. Congestion at the Causeway and the RM20 (US$5.25) vehicle entry permit fee imposed from October 2, on Singapore registered cars entering Malaysia via the Causeway in Johor Baru and Second Link Expressway in Gelang Patah is not helping. Batam and Bintan are perceived as more affordable destinations compared with Malaysia and with more night activities.”
Kong is also seeing a shrinking market of golfers.He said: “The younger generation don’t treat golf as seriously and find the game time consuming. An 18-hole course takes about four hours to complete. While it is still a popular game in Japan and South Korea, you see many corporate golfers are middle-aged.”
Thus, he finds it timely that the work group has been formed, because collectively the group can come out with new ideas to promote golf as an affordable and healthy sport.
Yap Sook Ling, managing director at Asian Overland Services Tours & Travel, added: “We are hopeful that with specialists among them (in the work group), they will have a strategy to attract the right audience. Perhaps they could do roadshows overseas to target companies and agents that specialise in golf (programmes).”
Thailand enjoys the hallowed status as the region’s leading golf destination on both the leisure and business travel fronts, however, specialists say more could be done by the national convention bureau and Tourism Authority of Thailand to market the sport to international source markets.
While the country has more than 250 courses and hosts a number of marquee annual events, including Queens Cup, Thailand Open, Thailand Classic and Honda LPGA Golf Championships, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau currently has no dedicated programme promoting golf to the MICE market.
“We promote golf as one of the incentive programmes that business travellers can experience in Thailand, along with spas, shopping or CSR (corporate social responsibility),” said Parichat Svetasreni, director of marketing and corporate image at TCEB, adding that the key source markets for combining MICE and golf are Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.
“Normally when (MICE) groups come to Thailand, they have their own organiser create the programme for pre- and post-tours which (could) include (golf).”
Currently TAT handles most of the golf destination marketing though the bureau played a supporting role in the Honda LPGA, from February 26 to March 1, which attracted a range of corporate meeting groups from the auto, finance and insurance sectors.
“Thailand is by far the largest and most popular golf destination in Asia,” remarked Mark Siegel, managing director of Golfasian. “It is among the three best in the world, only surpassed by the UK (British Isles) and Spain in popularity. It offers excellent quality, accessibility, variety, weather, and affordability – all the ingredients of a top golf destination.”
MICE currently accounts for about 10 per cent of Golfasian’s business in Thailand with the key source markets being domestic and regional countries. While Hua Hin is Thailand’s top golfing destination – it also picked up best gold destination 2014 from the International Association of Golf Tour Operators – most of the traffic is leisure. Corporate groups tend to opt for Bangkok and Phuket which are more accessible by air.
“Courses which lend themselves well to MICE groups are Thai Country Club and Royal Gems Golf City in Bangkok and Laguna Phuket Golf Club in Phuket,” he noted. “In Bangkok, courses with adjoining hotels are not popular for MICE groups as they tend to cater to local golfers and do not have the quality that the best courses and branded hotels can offer for businesses. In Phuket, Laguna has the entire infrastructure to host corporate meetings and incentive groups – so this works out perfectly for businesses.”
Stacey Walton, golf club manager and director at Banyan Thailand Hua Hin, feels that smaller MICE groups can easily add an 18-hole game with an award dinner to their itinerary in Hua Hin. “Hua Hin does not have extensive indoor meeting facilities and the MICE sector is seasonal as most of the resorts here are occupied with allotments from November to April by wholesalers,” he said.
As a result the property relies on its own sales and marketing team to drive MICE business. “Much more could be done (by TCEB and TAT to promote golf as a MICE activity),” he opined.
GIRL POWER
It isn’t just the gentlemen who are playing the links these days. Australian travel specialist, SHE Travels, has a division that is dedicated to arranging ladies-only golf incentive trips.
Offered in partnership with Rhonda Norman, a travel and incentive programme designer, SHE Golfs takes participants to Queenstown, New Zealand where they will learn all about the game from professionals.
The seven-day/six-night incentive experience includes stays at the five-star Millbrook Resort, voted Best Golf Hotel at the World Golf Awards, and the luxurious Hotel St Moritz Queenstown, overlooking Lake Wakatipu to The Remarkables mountain range, as well as three games of golf, daily golf training sessions with professional supervision (maximum of six per group), golf club hire, golf carts, a two-hour spa treatment, yoga classes, meals, transfers, and more.
Visit www.shetravels.net.au for details.
Play the links at some of Asia’s best
GREAT FOR GOLFERS:
It is located on the outskirts of Thailand’s oldest seaside resort town, just over a two-hour drive from Bangkok, and framed by the Tenasserim Hills which form the natural border with Myanmar to the west and the Gulf of Thailand to the east. The property feature an 18-hole championship course designed by Thailand’s leading golf architect, Pirapon Namatra, and boasts a total distance of 7,361 yards. The signature 15th hole offers ocean views of Singtoh Island and the course includes a practice range and two large practice greens with bunkers.
GREAT FOR MEETINGS:
Banyan Thailand Hua Hin comprises an all-villa resort and specialist meeting facilities that can cater for groups of 10 to 250 pax. The Conference Suites feature the Koh Tao and Koh Singtoh function rooms which have more than 150m2 of combined space and include state-of-the-art audiovisual and video conferencing equipment along with high speed Internet, whiteboards and flip charts. The resort also has a pub, restaurant, clubhouse, spa and fitness suite.
RECENT EVENTS:
Banyan Thailand Hua Hin arranges six to eight golf tournaments a year such as the Mercedes Cup, the BMW national golf finals and the Hyatt Open, many of which attract incentive groups. The events draw about 140 players each and there is little non-golf activity.
GREAT FOR GOLFERS:
The club, regarded as one of the best golf destinations in Asia, is home to two magnificent championship 18-hole par 72 golf courses – Serapong and Tanjong. Located on Sentosa island, both courses possess fairways lined with lush greenery and scenic coastline views of either the Singapore harbour or South China Sea.
GREAT FOR MEETINGS:
There are meeting rooms that can accommodate an intimate gathering of 10 people or up to 450 people for a standing cocktail party in the Grand Salon. The Grand Salon, the largest venue available, can be split into three smaller spaces. It is outfitted with five projectors and screens, and comes with an outdoor foyer ideal for cocktails or coffee breaks.
Sentosa Golf Club is also home to two celebrated restaurants, Kaiseki Sushi and Il Lido. Chefs at the club are able to customise menus for private groups.
RECENT EVENTS:
Undisclosed
GREAT FOR GOLFERS:
There are three courses to play in, and each offer a different level of difficulty. Allamanda is designed as a resort course, featuring breathtaking scenery of water features, daunting sand bunkers and carefully-manicured Tifdwarf greens hidden among verdant landscaping. Cempaka championship course demands full concentration, measuring 7,156 yards from the pro tees. A more open course, the Melati is carpeted with expansive Tifdwarf greens complimented by neat Serangoon fairways. It plays as a links course with a first-tee only start and is the longest of the three courses at 7,205 yards from the back tees.
GREAT FOR MEETINGS:
Within the club is the Golfers Terrace, an eatery that serves international cuisine. For residential meetings, the four-star Le Grandeur Resort next door offers 330 rooms, Perkasa Ballroom which has room for 350 people, 10 meeting rooms and four F&B outlets.
RECENT EVENTS:
Maybank’s Southern Region Golf Tournament for 100 golfers. The event in May sought to raise funds for an orphanage and providing networking opportunities for its officers, clients and vendors.
GREAT FOR GOLFERS:
Besides being lauded for its stellar service, the upscale club’s 18-hole par 72 championship golf course weaves through a 10 million-year-old rainforest towards the emerald green Andaman Sea. Designed by South African professional golfer Ernie Els and his team from Els Design, the course reflects Els’ personal taste and inspiration gathered by the natural surroundings of Teluk Datai. Shot-gun plays for up to 100 players can be arranged here.
GREAT FOR MEETINGS:
Private functions can be hosted on the event lawn or the meeting room which can accommodate a 10-pax board meeting. There are two F&B outlets, Ernie’s Lounge & Bar and Hornbill Cafe, which can seat up to 80 people, as well as a driving range and a tennis court which can double up for teambuilding activities.
RECENT EVENTS:
The Rotary Club of Langkawi held a fund-raising game in April for 73 golfers and 110 diners at the post-game barbeque dinner.
Local investment holding company, Themed Attractions Resorts & Hotels, hosted 20 clients to a round of golf in June.Played in a friendly competition format, the event also served as an opportunity for all to network.
GREAT FOR GOLFERS:
This Greg Norman-designed course weaves through natural sand banks close to My Khe beach. Considered one of Vietnam’s best, it is a true links course similar to classic golf courses in Scotland, Ireland, England and the Melbourne sand belt in Australia. It is a challenge for top players from the back tees but not intimidating for high handicap golfers when played from the front. The club says the greens are the fastest in Vietnam. The 16thhole, right on the beach and playing towards the Cham Islands in the distance, is regarded as the signature hole for golf in and near Danang.
GREAT FOR MEETINGS:
The club has a restaurant, rooftop terrace, two bars and a café. It also boasts two function rooms. The smaller room can seat 10 people for a seminar while the larger space seats 50-pax theatre-style or up to 180 for a cocktail party and features an outside terrace. An under-road pathway connects the club to Ocean Villas, an all-villa resort with 110 units ranging from one- to five-bedroom villas and a dune villa. Other facilities include a beach club, restaurant, spa and tennis courts.
RECENT EVENTS:
Danang Golf Club has hosted numerous corporate events involving golf and after-golf F&B services for clients including banks, financial services and motor vehicle companies. The club is one two courses that will co-host the Accor Vietnam Masters amateur tournament in September.
GREAT FOR GOLFERS:
Membership is not required so Mission Hills Haikou is open to all golf lovers who can play in the largest collection of publicly accessible golf courses in the world.
Only 15 minutes from Haikou Meilan International Airport, the 10 diverse and acclaimed tournament courses by Schmidt-Curley Design, each incorporating the native lava rock formations, are suitable for a range of playing abilities.
The courses offer a challenge for golfing enthusiasts while the less experienced can enjoy some of the most beautiful landscapes to play on in the Asia-Pacific region. The island’s temperate tropical climate is another plus.
GREAT FOR MEETINGS:
Mission Hills Haikou is constructing an energy-efficient and low-emission Town Center, which will feature Mission Hills Lan Kwai Fong Haikou, Mission Hills Huayi Brothers Feng Xiaogang Movie-themed Town, a duty-free shop, and luxury hotels bearing brands like The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance and Hard Rock brands.
The destination itself is a draw for corporate event. Hainan is known as Asia’s sport and lifestyle capital. Apart from world-class golf courses, there are family-friendly facilities for leisure, sports, recreation, entertainment, dining, accommodation, conference, and shopping, as well as the world’s largest mineral springs and spa facilities.
RECENT EVENTS:
BMW, Volvo, Audi and Bank of China have hosted golf tournaments at Mission Hills Haikou. Recent tournaments included an industry association celebration for 230 people, a friendly golf tournament for 100 senior management MBA students, and an invitational tournament for more than 80 car owners organised by an famous international motor car company.
GREAT FOR GOLFERS:
As the only resort in Bintan that offers two 18-hole championship courses, designed by golf legends Jack Nicklaus and Ian Baker-Finch. One of the courses is set against a stunning backdrop of the South China Sea while the other is marked by natural topography with an undulating landscape for seasoned golfers.
GREAT FOR MEETINGS:
This 470-room resort charms with its manicured gardens and a private beach that stretches nearly 1.5km. Besides its suite of meetings rooms within the resort and even more in its new three-storey convention centre, the resort features a variety of outdoor locations that corporates can utilise for teambuilding activities or dinners. It is possible to even host delegates under the stars for a dinner right at the water’s edge.
RECENT EVENTS:
Undisclosed
GREAT FOR GOLFERS:
Nestled amid a verdant landscape and adjacent to picturesque Yang Zonghai Lake, Spring City is Kunming’s eco-golf sanctuary, less than an hour’s drive from the Kunming Airport, and 40 minutes’ drive from Kunming city.Located 1,770m above sea level and surrounded by natural hot springs, Spring City is a world-class integrated holiday resort with more than 400 luxury rooms and award-winning 18-hole championship golf courses including the Mountain Course designed by Jack Nicklaus and the Lake Course by Robert Trent Jones Jr.The courses offer golfers of every level games filled with challenges and enjoyment. The magnificent 18-hole Lake Course is set on the banks of the Yang Zonghai Lake and is world renowned for its narrow fairways, crisscrossing trenches, strong winds, terraced greens and breathtaking lake views.
GREAT FOR MEETINGS:
The Clubhouse at Spring City has myriad facilities including an expansive lobby, a lobby bar, VIP dining rooms, spa, tennis courts, a boardroom, a multipurpose function hall, an outdoor terrace as well as a recreation centre with a karaoke room, mahjong room and gym.
Spring City features a variety of dining experiences offering some of the finest culinary selections from around the world. Guests can look forward to discovering the savoury tastes of local Chinese cuisine, or indulge in a variety of eastern and western fares at its restaurant.
RECENT EVENTS:
An exclusive customer golf event by a telecommunications company in June. Some 50 people were in attendance and they stayed three nights at the resort. The event included three rounds of golf, a welcome dinner and a prize presentation dinner.
