The Hawaii Tourism Authority and Pacific Links Hawaii have formed a partnership establishing a new approach to bring more high-spending Chinese golfers to Hawaii.
The timing is right as evidenced by strong turnout during the partnership’s debut, which brought more than 500 Pacific Links International members and their families to Hawaii.
"We have capped these first trips at 500, but demand is much higher," said Micah Kane, chief operating officer of Pacific Links Hawaii. "Year-to-date, we’ve hosted about 2,500 rounds of golf for Chinese members. Ideally, we’d like to see the partnership grow so that we can host 200 to 300 Chinese players monthly."
HTA assisted with the difficult visa process and worked to improve the Hawaii experience for Chinese visitors.
"We’ve partnered with Hyundai to develop the Korean golf market and with Sony to develop Japan, but this is the first time that we’ve participated in a public-private partnership to bring more Chinese golfers to Hawaii," said David Uchiyama, HTA vice president of brand management. "In general we are doing very, very well in China, and we’ll continue to improve our numbers."
Uchiyama, who recently returned from a marketing trip to China, said, "We are ahead of last year but below our original projection of 180,000 arrivals. Instead we’ll come in closer to 160,000 arrivals."
The advent of longer-term visas for Chinese visitors combined with the new stringent regulations on Chinese golf courses have made Hawaii more attractive.
Golf in China has come a long way from the days when Maoists eschewed it as a bourgeois pastime. An estimated 300,000 core golfers in China today could grow to 20 million over the next five years, said Dave Erdman, president and CEO of PacRim Marketing Group Inc. & PRTech LLC.
"Golf is becoming a mainstream sport in China," Uchiyama said. "If we can create enough demand, we’ll get more carrier frequency, and that will help build the market even more."
Liwei Kimura, director of business development for Starwood’s Hawaii Region, Greater China & South East Asia Markets, agrees.
"We commend HTA and Pacific Links’ leadership in this niche market development as golf is a fast-emerging activity in China, not only because it is viewed as a healthy and enjoyable sport, but also because people are attracted to it as a luxury lifestyle and a statement of social status," Kimura said.
Nowadays U.S. golf courses, which were hit hard by golf course closures in the aftermath of the last real estate crisis and recession-related job losses, are increasingly looking to Chinese golfers to make up for a drop in other golfers. Bloomberg reported last year that 400,000 players left the sport, according to the National Golf Foundation. Uchiyama said Hawaii has the same needs, mainly related to offsetting a drop from the Japanese market.
In a lot of ways, Uchiyama said, the market is similar to the Japanese market in the early days when there weren’t that many golf courses in Japan and the fees were expensive. But he cautions that Hawaii needs to pay special attention to the market dynamics of golf in China to realize the market’s full potential.
"We’ve seen Japanese tee times and green fees drop off because now they have more opportunity to play at home," he said. "Still, we need to realize that as their segment matures we’ll need to adjust as well."
Danny Ojiri, vice president of market development for Outrigger Enterprises, said Hawaii will need to continue upping its game to hold China’s interest.
"We need to keep in mind, though, that golfers from China are accustomed to top-class clubhouse and restaurant facilities; it’s a game associated with luxury there," Ojiri said.
The quest to get a piece of the Chinese market is as much about relationships and perception as it is about infrastructure. The isles already have a reputation for wellness and are tied to Pacific Links Hawaii, whose parent company Pacific Links International has five courses in Hawaii and owns golf clubs in California, Las Vegas, West Virginia and China, where it is a recognized brand. The company has three clubs in Beijing and Tianjin.
With current pollution and food safety challenges in China, Kimura said that high-end luxury travelers also are seeking healthy lifestyle destinations when traveling to international spots.
"Hawaii can benefit by targeting these higher-spending, luxury leisure travelers who can bring us more economic benefit with less impact on our natural resources. Promotion of golf travel is one of the best ways to maximize Hawaii’s competitive advantages while highlighting its world-class courses to target the Chinese," she said.
The Chinese golfers who have come to Hawaii have spent more than $550 per day — that’s more than regular high-spending Chinese visitors.
Golf is a growing market in China, but the number of clubs has been reduced by about 50 percent due to regulatory reform, Kane said.
"A lot of their golf courses were not built under proper regulation, and the government is clamping down and taking back property for agricultural uses to feed their people," Kane said. "So we’ve got a situation where demand is going up and options are going down.
Erdman said it didn’t hurt that famous Chinese film director Feng Xiaogang and Chinese actor Wang Zhiwen also traveled to Hawaii recently, further increasing Hawaii’s visibility and golf’s popularity in China.
This week, Erdman said Hawaii will welcome Chinese golfers Liang Wen-Chong and Liu Yan-Wei to the Sony Open, which is positive for media promotion in China.
"We hope to see an increase in travelers visiting Oahu to attend the tournament this year, and a gain in the number of Chinese participants next year," he said. "Several of these golfers and supporters own vacation homes or condos in Hawaii and visit during tournaments, and are all potential real estate buyers. We hope to see the same from the Chinese market and that extension into the purchase of vacation real estate here."
