Words of Wisdom from Colin Dawson, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Superyacht Association (Part 3) ( 2014/05/12 )
| The yachting industry in the Asia Pacific region has started to grow quickly. We are honoured to share with you words of wisdom by Colin Dawson, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Superyacht Association (APSA). In this issue, Colin will continue his sharing on the discussion that yachting being a privilege only enjoyed by the rich, and the possible community and economic benefits likely to be brought by the yachting industry to Hong Kong. Just like every new idea, while we are getting a lot of supporting opinions, there are still voices from the opposite side. One common discussion is that yachting is a privilege only enjoyed by the rich. Is it true? “It is fair to say that you need to be a wealthy person to own a yacht, but certainly you do not need to be a wealthy person to go sailing. Therefore, the yachting industry is not just about luxury items. There are a lot of very good government sailing courses in Hong Kong which are incredibly cheap to attend. There are lots of regattas in Hong Kong where the owners of sailing boats are particularly open to see new crew coming on board and introduce sailing to them. Although yachts are luxury products they do put much back to the community. The most important thing we need to do is to demonstrate to the government and the public the economic and social benefits the yachting industry can bring to the community as well as how the industry can promote Hong Kong to other countries.” When asked the immediate economic and social benefits yachting industry can bring to the city of Hong Kong, Colin replied. “If you put an average of 10-15% yearly operation cost of the new price of a yacht, a very rough approximation is that 70% of the operation cost will go into the local community. So there are a lot of immediate financial benefits for the local community. Food, fuels, spare parts, maintenance services are all provisioning aspects of a yacht which are very expensive. Furthermore, crew on board will spend much of their salary where the yacht is and they generally spend well. Of the global superyacht fleet, the average size is 46 metres. If we take an approximate new purchase price of Eur 20 million, the above figures represent about Eur 40,000 a week into a local economy. On the other hand, the owners of the yachts will not always stay on their boats but top hotels, they will be entertaining guests and their purchasing power is enormous. Most of the above are benefits to businesses outside the yacht industry. The time has come for countries in the Asia Pacific region to evolve into some of the most sought after cruising destinations in the world. To make this move forward we need to strive for the building of the right facilities and support infrastructure. Well-placed in a leading international city, The Baroque on Lamma will be well placed to assist in providing social and economic benefits for Hong Kong from the yachting industry.” |
 The yachting industry can bring immediate economic and social benefits to the city  Colin Dawson, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Superyacht |
