During the National Day holiday, with the gradual recovery of the tourism market, golf tourism, as a high-end leisure activity that combines sports, vacation, and sightseeing, attracted many enthusiasts. On October 9, BaiGolf released the “2024 National Day Golf Tourism Report” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”). According to the report, the total number of golf trips during National Day 2024 increased by 21%, setting a new historical record.

The golf tourism market during the National Day holiday showcased new consumer trends and features. Many players opted for all-inclusive packages (courses, hotels, car rentals, sightseeing) offered by travel agencies, making it convenient to play golf while keeping a well-planned schedule. At the same time, a more relaxed approach to travel is making a comeback, with tourists first flying abroad and then deciding which courses to play, highlighting the growing trend of spontaneous bookings. With the increasing convenience of car rentals, some players even chose self-driving tours in New Zealand for their golfing adventures.


Table of Contents

Overall Trends in Golf Tourism

Domestic Golf Tourism

International Golf Tourism

Market Size and Future Forecast


1. Overall Trends in Golf Tourism

Playing golf abroad has become more common, with 21% of players choosing to play overseas. Data from BaiGolf shows that during the National Day holiday, daily orders for golf courses and hotels saw significant growth year-over-year, demonstrating the strong purchasing power of Chinese golfers.


Players and golf courses are most concentrated in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. It is worth mentioning that in addition to popular golf cities such as Shandong and Hainan, lesser-known golf courses in third-tier cities are becoming new growth points due to their high cost-effectiveness and unique features.


According to the report, international golf tourism has become a booming industry. The most popular overseas destinations during the National Day holiday were Japan, Thailand, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Emerging golf destinations such as New Zealand, Australia, and Spain are gaining popularity due to their world-class courses and scenic beauty.

Many foreign tourists coming to China to play golf choose famous courses like Mission Hills and Spring City as their top destinations.


2. Domestic Golf Tourism

Guangdong (Greater Bay Area): The total volume of golf rounds played in Guangdong showed a 3% decrease compared to 2023; the proportion of nationwide golf rounds played in Guangdong dropped significantly from 45% in 2023 to 35% in 2024. However, Guangdong remains the region with the highest number of golfers in China.

Yangtze River Delta (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai): Rapid growth, reflecting the strong purchasing power of golfers in this region; the share of national golf rounds increased from 20% to 24% , with absolute numbers growing nearly 50% compared to 2023, especially in Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

Beijing (Capital Region): The share of national rounds dropped from 17% to 14%, but absolute numbers increased by 10% compared to 2023, indicating that Beijing’s purchasing power remains strong.

Other regions in China: The impact of the pandemic has completely dissipated, with regions like Shandong, Yunnan, Hainan, and Fujian showing growth as well.


3. International Golf Tourism

Japan: Recorded an astounding 354% increase in the number of Chinese golfers traveling there. This is attributed to several factors: low base numbers in 2023 due to Japanese visa issues, continued low exchange rates of the yen, lower costs of golf tourism, relaxed visa policies (with tourist visas under 300 RMB), faster visa processing times, increased China-Japan flights, and cheaper airfare. Travel from Beijing/Shanghai to Japan takes only about 2 hours.

Thailand: 169% growth; continues its rapid rise. With over 300 golf courses—almost the same number as bookable golf courses in China—Thailand remains highly attractive to golfers due to its mature golf tourism market, high cost-effectiveness, and visa-free policies.

Korea: 120% growth; Jeju Island’s visa-free policy for Chinese passport holders is a significant advantage. Its close proximity to China, along with rich tourism resources like casinos and luxury hotels, makes it a top destination for international tourists.

Malaysia: 68% growth; Malaysia continues to attract international golfers with its rich tourism resources, visa-free policy, and relatively low golf prices.

Vietnam: down 2%; Business people traveling to Vietnam are one of the main groups in the golf tourism market. Although the number of golf courses has grown rapidly in the past 10 years, it is not yet mature and its appeal to international tourists is still far behind that of countries such as Thailand.


4, Market size and future forecast

During the National Day holiday, the golf tourism market showed a positive growth trend. With the recovery of the tourism market and the change of consumer behavior, golf tourism, as a tourism method combining sports and leisure, is being favored by more and more tourists.

The rise of emerging destinations, the growth in demand for luxury tourism and the advancement of technology have brought new opportunities and challenges to the golf tourism market. It is expected that the golf tourism market will continue to maintain its growth momentum in the next few years, injecting new vitality into the tourism industry.

According to Baigao data, during the National Day holiday, the average number of days in advance for players to make reservations dropped to 7 days, and many players chose to place an order 1 day in advance. Swinging as you like and renting clubs on the field seems to have become a way to enjoy the holiday. (*Bai Gao’s customer service reminds you that some golf courses are short of golf slots, so it is recommended to book in advance.)


*Analysis data source: 11,464 players sampled from the Bai Gao Golf platform from September 23, 2024 to October 7, 2024.


About BaiGolf


BaiGolf (www.baigolf.com) is one of the fastest growing online golf course booking and golf travel service platforms, providing Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, English and Korean, and providing you with more than 2,000 golf courses and more than 1,000 golf travel packages worldwide. BaiGolf.com can provide you with a fast and easy online booking experience, and is your first choice for golf booking.


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