The government is promoting nationwide golfing tours. One itinerary suggests visitors tee off at Kauri Cliffs, the par 72 championship course on Matauri Bay designed by David Harman, then head south to the  Jack Nicklaus-designed Kinloch Club on the shores of Lake Taupo, before ending the 10-day trip in Queenstown on the nation’s South Island.

On their golfing journey, players can also sample smaller rural clubs where green fees are paid by leaving a few dollars in an honesty box. “We want to show how simple it is to head down the road and get a different golf experience,” said Andrew Fraser, director of marketing at Tourism New Zealand.

Fraser’s agency estimated international golf tourism was worth NZ$32 billion in a 2013 report. The 41-page document laid out a strategy for increasing New Zealand’s then 0.3 percent market share and leveraging off about NZ$260 million of investment in golf facilities over the previous 15 years.

Global competition is intensifying, though. For example, Vietnam’s government is encouraging investment that could double the number of courses there, Martin Moore, president of Scottsdale, Arizona-based Flagstick Golf Course Construction Management, said last month. His company completed three Nicklaus-designed projects in Vietnam last year.

Golfing Economy

Golfers are an attractive clientele for New Zealand’s NZ$13.5 billion tourism industry, which has overtaken dairy as the country’s biggest export earner. They spent an average of NZ$4,690 a visit in the year ended Sept. 30, compared with the NZ$4,070 average for all visitors, the tourism agency said.

At Cape Kidnappers, the Doak-designed cliff-top course on the east coast of the North Island, green fees can be as much as NZ$475, excluding cart or caddie. A night in the resort’s four-bedroom owner’s cottage, with panoramic ocean views, can cost NZ$13,500 before taxes in peak season.

In California, golfers can skip the 13-hour flight and choose from four of the world’s best courses within a couple hours’ drive from San Francisco, including Pebble Beach Golf Links, host of five U.S. Open Championships. There, a round costs $495 for resort guests.

‘Luxury Offer’

“There is an emerging reputation within golf for our luxury offer,” said the tourism agency’s Fraser. “New Zealand is a highly attractive destination because of our landscapes.”