Korean golf tourists perception of golf tourism experience in Sutera Harbour Golf and Country Club, Sabah, Malaysia

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study of Korean golf tourists' perception of golf experience in Sabah, Malaysia. In order to identify the expressive dimensions that describes the quality of their experience. In-depth interviews were conducted with Korean golf tourists who played golf in Sutera Harbour golf and country club. The analysis of expressive dimensions of their service experience identified positive and negative experiences of respondents. The findings show that the golf experience is multidimensional- affective/ emotional aspects and functional/ utilitarian aspects. Golf tourists emphasize golf course, maintenance of golf course, environment, dub house, and interaction with service staffs. The six expressive dimensions describing the positive experience are consistent with previous research. The Korean golf tourists' perception is developed to display both positive and negative aspects that build up the golf experience of the tourists. This research has strong implications to provide operators with guidelines to improve the golf tour operations