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ㆍAGL Jim Hwang CEO Interview

ㆍGolf Tech Company Connecting Golfers in 200 Countries in Real Time

ㆍ2,000+ Golf Courses

Since the advent of the GDS (Global Distribution System), the airline and hotel industries have made great strides. Real-time inventory and reservation information provided by the GDS, which enables transactions between travel service providers and travel agencies or booking platforms, has made it easy for people to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and other travel-related services in one place.

A company has emerged that has actively introduced this GDS to golf travel. It is a golf-tech startup company called AGL. AGL have developed "TIGER GDS," allowing for easier booking of various travel packages that combine golf course tee times with flights, accommodation, and more. In 2022, AGL officially launched its global business operations. 

A Korean golf-tech company is now attracting golfers worldwide with its TIGER GDS platform. We spoke with AGL's CEO, Jim Hwang, to learn how he made this possible and what exciting developments lie ahead.

Q. AGL is an unfamiliar company to global golfers. Can you introduce the company?

Through TIGER GDS, we provide real-time tee times at golf courses worldwide to global golfers. Tee times distributed via TIGER GDS are connected in real time to partner channels such as airlines, travel agencies, and OTAs, enabling golfers to make easy booking and payments through our own booking platform, TIGER Booking(www.tigerbooking.golf). Especially with the launch of Google Booking Services this year, golfers from over 200 countries, not just in Korea, can now use TIGER Booking to access tee times, as well as a variety of golf travel packages that combine golf with flights, hotels, and more.

Q. How did you develop TIGER GDS?

Having worked in the golf industry for over 20 years, including golf course management, golf course M&A, and marketing, I felt the lack of a well-organized system despite the limitless growth potential. Especially, I realized the need for tee time booking and payment standardization, and I began analyzing the GDS system, long used in the travel industry, and started designing our own system. Despite facing numerous challenges due to differences in golf culture by country, various golf course booking systems, and dynamic pricing policies influenced by external factors such as weather, we successfully developed the system in 2022 and received recognition for its technical excellence.

Q. What is the current usage level of TIGER GDS?

Initially, we focused on expanding partnerships with golf courses in Southeast Asia, particularly in regions popular among Korean golfers, such as Thailand and Vietnam. Currently, TIGER GDS is used by over 2,000 golf courses across more than 20 countries. This includes not only Asian locations like Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia but also the birthplace of golf, with courses in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, and the United States. Now, more than one million tee times are generated and distributed daily through TIGER GDS. Notably, we have secured contracts with several of the world’s top 100 golf courses, including Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, which will host The Open next year, and Royal County Down, ranked as the world’s #1 golf course.

Q. What was the driving force behind securing the number of golf courses using TIGER GDS in a short period of time?

Golf courses have been using various methods to avoid leaving tee time inventory unused. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many courses faced a sharp decline in revenue due to a drop in inbound customers, pushing them to explore various strategies to boost sales and recover financially.

At that time, AGL was developing TIGER GDS and starting with collaboration with a Korean OTA called MyRealTrip, gradually expanding its scope to airlines (Asiana Airlines, Jeju Air), travel agencies (Hana Tour, Modoo Tour), and expanding partnerships to banks, credit card companies, etc. Just by using TIGER GDS, golf courses were able to manage tee times efficiently and were able to be introduced to AGL’s partner customers without spending any other promotional means or marketing costs. Through this, as the number of visitors and revenue for the golf courses increased, we gradually gained their trust. Later, when TIGER Booking’s golf booking service through Google was launched, interest in golf courses increased even more.

Q. How did you start a worldwide golf course tee time booking service through Google?

From the beginning, we envisioned collaborating with Google when creating AGL. We wanted golfers around the world to embark on golf trips to courses connected through AGL’s TIGER GDS. Since last year, TIGER Booking has already started offering global services with multilingual support, including English, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and Chinese.

Users can search for their desired golf course via Google Search or Google Maps, and then click the “Book Online” button, which connects them directly to TIGER Booking. This allows them to instantly reserve and pay for tee times on their chosen date in real time. For golfers, this streamlined approach makes planning a golf trip much more convenient than traditional booking methods, from course search to tee time confirmation. Since launching, the service has received an overwhelmingly positive response.

Q. What effects have you had since Google’s reservation service was introduced?

Before the reserve with Google, over 78% of TIGER Booking users were Korean. However, from the first day of the Google service launch, golfers from Taiwan and Singapore began booking courses in Portugal and Japan. Now, three months later, the proportion of global golfers has reversed to account for 84%. As of October 2024, golfers from 204 countries are using TIGER Booking. The highest booking frequencies come from South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

While some users reserved courses within their own countries, there was a strong trend of booking courses within the same continent, such as Japanese golfers booking in Taiwan. Notably, cross-continental golf travel has significantly increased, with British golfers booking in Japan, Thai golfers in Portugal, and Australian golfers heading to Indonesia, marking a true rise in global golf travel.

Through the experience of providing a global golf booking service—not just by increasing site traffic and booking volumes via Google—AGL has further expanded its business scope by forming partnerships with over 50 companies, including airlines and travel agencies like Airtrip, through our global golf booking service. Recently, we are on the verge of a POC contract for a new golf travel service with Lufthansa, the German national airline.

Q. What is the next step of AGL?

AGL's goal is to establish a new global standard for golf travel through TIGER GDS and TIGER Booking. We aim to provide golfers around the world with the ability to easily book and pay for any golf course without barriers of country and language, while also offering real-time information on golf course tee times to enhance their convenience. As a golf GDS company, we plan to actively pursue partnerships with global travel agencies, OTAs, and airlines that wish to provide services to golfers. In collaboration with major golf resorts and partner travel agencies, we will introduce a variety of golf travel packages that combine tee times and hotels, as well as premium golf travel experiences such as tours of the top 100 courses in the United States and rounds at the world's top 100 courses as part of the AGL World Golf Series.

Source : News Vision (https://www.nvp.co.kr/)

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