Asian golf industry hit hard by regional crisis

Asian golf industry hit hard by regional crisis

SINGAPORE (AFP): An Asian golf trade fair opened here yesterday amid gloom in the industry after the region's economic slowdown put course construction projects on hold, affecting a wide range of related businesses.

With South Korea and parts of Southeast Asia in recession and Japan struggling to swing its way out of an economic sand trap, sales of course designers, contractors and equipment suppliers have slumped along with club memberships.

"The boom years of golf are finished forever in Asia," Mark Vlassopulos, director of Gary Player Management Services, told AFP at Golf Asia '98, an exhibition for service and equipment suppliers which runs till the weekend.