Siam Motors Group, owned by the Phornprapha family, plans to invest as much as 400 million baht to build a hotel on one of its golf courses.
“We've found most customers want to stay overnight to spend more time teeing off at the golf courses,” said Phornthep Phornprapha, chairman of Thongthaworn Pattana Co under Siam Motors Group, the first company in Thailand to import Japanese cars and heavy machinery.
The new hotel offering 60-120 rooms is planned for Siam Country Club Pattaya Waterside, which recently opened. The hotel is due to be completed within two years.
The 1.32-billion-baht Pattaya Waterside is the third golf course under the name of Siam Country Club in which the group has invested a combined 4 billion baht.
The 18-hole course is located next to the 18-hole Siam Country Club Old Course and the 27-hole Siam Country Club Plantation Course.
Siam Motors expanded its business to include an international-standard golf course 43 years ago to meet the needs of tourists as well as Thai and international businessmen while serving the growth of the golf industry.
The group’s golf course business produces a compound growth rate of 15% per year and each golf course takes about seven years to break even. Siam Motors expects its golf business to generate revenue of about 600 million baht a year.
The company owns a land bank amounting to 6,000 rai in Chon Buri province, of which 2,200 rai has been developed into the three golf courses. It plans to use the remaining 3,800 rai for another golf course and housing projects in the near future, but details have yet to be disclosed.
Suksan Suwanpanich, acting managing director of Siam Country Club Pattaya, said Siam Motors’ first two golf courses are running at full capacity, accommodating up to 114,000 golfers a year, 80% of whom are expats, mostly Japanese.
“We offer 64 tee times per day on weekends and 50 tee times on working days, with each tee time only for three golfers,” he said. “The third golf course is expected to capture around 50,000 golfers per year.”
Mr Suksan said there are 22 golf courses in Chon Buri and Rayong, of which 15 are members of the East Coast Golf Courses Management Association (Thailand).
According to a survey by the association, the number of golfers increased by 15.3% to 798,000 last year.
Thailand is one of the most popular golf destinations in Asia, home to about 250 golf courses, many designed by famous international architects.
The golf sector is attracting more foreign investment due to competitive pricing on green fees and other related services compared with other countries in the region with the exception of Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos.
Recent surveys found more overseas golfers are interested in playing golf in Thailand. Average spending per golfer is usually at least 4,000 baht per day in the main target markets of Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Europe.
The golf market in Thailand is expected to continue to grow as playing golf becomes popular among Thais, especially families. The market is expanding to include every age range.
A survey last year by the Tourism Authority of Thailand found golf was one of four high-end segments earning the country more than 130 billion baht, with 7.98 million trips a year.
Eco-tourism had the highest value at 54.6 billion baht, followed by honeymoons and weddings (34.6 billion), medical tourism (31.1 billion) and golf (10.5 billion).