Destination preferences and travel behaviour among golf tourists in Malaysia

Though golf tourism has been one of the main contributors in generating country's tourism revenue, little is known about golf destination attributes preferences among golf tourists in the country. The present study seeks to segment the golf tourists by their golf specialization level, and to examine their demographic characteristics, travel behaviour and destination attribute preferences. A convenience sampling technique was adopted to collect data from 416 golfers in six different golf resorts in Peninsula Malaysia. The result of the study indicated that the two most important general destination attributes for most golf tourist were 'services' factor and 'reputation' factor. But, for the high golf specialization group, 'facility' factor was the most important factor and followed by 'services' factor. As for golf course attributes preferences, four important factors identified were 'course condition', 'service & aesthetics', 'logistics' and 'course design'. This study provided information for better comprehension of the niche market of travelling golfers. It can also be used to support such tourism decisions as the development of destinations and supporting services, product positioning, advertising, promotions and packaging effort.