Hong Kong sales of luxury yachts buoyant, but lack of spaces to moor them is holding the market back
City remains the boating capital of Asia, despite a shortage of parking spaces in private marinas and reluctance of bigger yacht owners to trust their craft to public moorings, say industry players
The yacht business has not been buffeted by the headwinds affecting other segments of the luxury market in Hong Kong, but it has not all been smooth sailing. Business is being held back by the city’s growing shortage of places for owners to tie up their boats.
The overriding theme at last year’s Hong Kong Gold Coast Boat Show, the largest such event in the city, was boating as an affordable luxury pursuit. The organisers, mindful of the slowdown in economic growth, were at pains to show that boating wasn’t just for the elite and that owning a vessel was well within the means of Hong Kong’s middle class.
Fast forward a year, and the Gold Coast Boat Show organisers needn’t have worried so much; the evidence from boat builders and brokerage firms is that demand for luxury yachts and humbler boats has held up in Hong Kong. However, industry players are in agreement that the industry is hamstrung by infrastructure issues.
“The biggest problem we have in Hong Kong is parking spaces. We just don’t have any left,” says Gordon Hui, the chairman of luxury-boat maker Sunseeker Asia. “The demand was strong up until two years ago, but then the spaces started to run out and the market slumped. When there are no parking spaces, the customers can’t buy.”
Hui’s view is echoed by Olivier Besson, chief executive of Asia Yachting, a firm that offers sales, brokerage and management services for luxury yachts.