Yachting is a type of ship that integrates navigation, sports, entertainment, leisure, and other functions. Playing with yachts was once considered a high-end luxury leisure way. However, in the past two years, with the improvement of residents' income levels, China's yacht industry has begun to enter the era of mass tourism consumption, following the trend of consumption transformation, and the yacht industry has shown a trend of "popularization".
Chen Yuanyuan is the head of a cultural media company in Shenzhen. Due to business needs, she and several other companies crowdfunded to buy a yacht. In addition to being used for daily corporate reception, this yacht can also be rented out during idle hours to meet the leisure tourism needs of ordinary citizens. This way, Chen Yuanyuan not only keeps the yacht without having to pay for it herself, but also receives some income on a monthly basis.
Chen Yuanyuan, General Manager of Shenzhen Shenmeng Cultural Media Co., Ltd.: When we have free time, we will cooperate with some people, including private enterprises, who will come to rent. We can basically receive tens of thousands of yuan per month, and there is no problem with hundreds of thousands of yuan per year.
Yachts have always been considered a high-end luxury item in China. In recent years, with the upgrading of domestic consumption and the increase in residents' income, the consumer group and use of yachts have also undergone significant changes. The yacht industry has also begun to proactively lower its profile and focus on the mass market, showing an increasingly significant trend of "popularization".
Wang Rongyang, Marketing Director of Guangdong Bangwei Yacht Development Co., Ltd.: In previous years, almost 80% of the rental methods were for business reception and negotiation, but in recent years, the data has increased by 20% every year. But so far this year, the Golden Week of the 11th has reversed, with 20% for business negotiations and 80% for birthday parties, family gatherings, or gatherings with friends and classmates. The participation of ordinary consumers is a significant reversal.
The consumption threshold has been significantly lowered, and the domestic yacht industry is gradually recovering
Although the yacht industry has not yet fully bottomed out globally, benefiting from the upgrading of residents' consumption, the development of the tourism industry, and the decreasing threshold for yacht consumption year by year, the domestic yacht industry is experiencing a recovery.
Chen Yong has always been engaged in the tourism industry. With the increase of domestic outbound tourism in the past two years, Chen Yong has developed a new tourism route in Papua New Guinea. In addition to providing necessary ships for the project, Chen Yong plans to purchase several yachts. After investigation and comparison, Chen Yong plans to purchase all yachts in Shenzhen.
Chen Yong, General Manager of Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise Tourism Company: We want to develop some tourism projects with local characteristics there, and we also need to equip some yachts and boats, so we specially went to Shenzhen to see this boat, because we feel that this boat is quite suitable for use in the Pacific Ocean of Papua New Guinea, including providing diversified marine tourism vacation projects for Chinese tourists in all aspects.
The demand in the consumer market has also brought business opportunities to related companies. A company specialized in designing and selling yachts in Shenzhen has developed cost-effective yachts with its design expertise in just two years, and its sales performance has been increasing year by year.
Tong Jun, founder of Shenzhen Moana Yacht Co., Ltd.: Since January last year, in just over a year, a certain series has sold almost 14 ships, which should be considered a miracle. Including the Shenzhen Bay Yacht Show in Shenzhen recently, we signed off five ships for one exhibition. The current achievement should be considered a qualitative leap.
Tong Jun told reporters that in the past, the entry-level standards for yachts were high. Buying a yacht and entering the dock required paying membership fees of several hundred thousand or even millions of yuan. With the development of the yacht industry, the threshold for yachts is becoming lower and lower. Taking Shenzhen as an example, most docks have started to open to the public without or with low thresholds, and there are more and more yachts, resulting in a shortage of berths at yacht docks.
Lin Hongbo, Marketing Manager of Nanhai Pearl Yacht club in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, said that there were 40 berths at our yacht terminal in the early stage, and the total number of berths was 150. According to our current usage, we will add an additional 40 in the future.
Wu Hao, General Manager of the New Sports Ocean Sports Center: We are planning a 3-5 year plan to re plan the venue, because in the future, based on the growth of business volume, we will definitely not be able to meet our current size.
Industry recovery has given rise to market demand, and yacht manufacturing companies have seen an increase in orders
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The recovery of the domestic yacht industry has also brought business opportunities to the upstream yacht manufacturing industry. Since 2018, many yacht manufacturing enterprises have seen an increase in new orders. At the same time, due to the improvement of design and manufacturing levels, Chinese made yachts have also gained international recognition.
Two or three years ago, the factory in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, which specializes in producing yachts, could not receive a few orders in a year, and the workers were mostly in a state of rest. However, since 2018, yacht orders have suddenly increased.
Wang Qiubao, Production Director of Guangdong Yuanhexin Yacht Manufacturing Co., Ltd.: Our main product used to be one or two ships in the past year, but in 2018, we already had 7 ships. Our mission next year is basically 20-30 ships.
Xiong Zhiquan, the chief engineer of Guangdong Yuanhexin Yacht Manufacturing Co., Ltd., said: "We can usually get 5000 yuan as usual, but now when there are many orders, we can get 7000 to 8000 yuan.
It is understood that there are currently over 1600 yacht construction enterprises in China. In order to comply with the recovery of the yacht industry, many yacht production enterprises have gradually gained market recognition by enhancing their own design and improving the cost-effectiveness of yachts. As of now, this yacht manufacturing enterprise has received orders for 220 yachts in less than two years, and is expected to deliver them all before 2024.
Zhu Yingzheng, Executive Director of Guangdong Yuanhexin Yacht Manufacturing Co., Ltd.: Like this 50 foot Iliad, its price is approximately 1.2 million US dollars in the international market. Normally speaking, the price of this type of ship produced abroad is around $1.5 million to $1.8 million, which means that in terms of cost-effectiveness, we are definitely higher than foreign ships.
At the same time, the manufacturing level of Chinese yachts has also gained international recognition. This Superyacht with a total length of 88.5 meters, a width of 15.4 meters, and six decks is the largest Superyacht in Asia at present, and it is also the first Superyacht with a length of more than 60 meters designed and built by Chinese enterprises integrating global resources.
Prior to this, the design and manufacturing of yachts had been monopolized by a few countries such as Germany, Italy, and the United States. It is understood that the manufacturing difficulty and complexity of Superyacht over 60 meters are geometric multiples of those of small and medium-sized yachts.
Shao Huiliang, General Manager of CIMC Raffles Yacht Business Unit: We have considered that the domestic consumer market is gradually transitioning from yachts to large yachts, so we have also received orders for high-end products. In the past two years, we have designed and built 11 themed high-end tourism products.
According to the "World Yacht Market Analysis and Forecast" by E-Composites in the United States, the total global yacht sales in 2014 reached 45 billion US dollars. If related maintenance, operation, leasing services, etc. are included, the global average annual yacht economic income is around 60 billion US dollars. It is expected that by 2020, the total global yacht sales will reach 67 billion US dollars.