Policy sinks the luxury yacht

[1]

It is likely that the next time you see a luxury yacht parked in Monaco, Mediterranean, Dubai, Caribbean or even Singapore, the owner could be an Indian national.

According to industry estimates, Indians are increasingly looking at the recreational boat and yacht markets but lack of infrastructure facilities and conducive government policies are acting as the biggest hindrance forcing many of them to berth their boats in overseas locations.

Inspite of these drawbacks, in the last five years, the number of boats and yachts sold in India has nearly doubled as more international players are looking at India due to the ongoing slowdown in Europe and US. A rough industry estimate suggests that over 1,000 recreational boats have been sold in India as of now.

Boat and yacht makers are of the view that there is enough potential in the Indian market and the demand could grow exponentially like the passenger car market if infrastructure facilities like parking and berthing are made available.

“In the last 18 years, we have sold close to 100 pleasure boats to India. Indians have the means to afford the boats. But lack of supportive government policies and basic infrastructure facilities have resulted in a lower demand here,” said Mr Erwin Bamps, chief operating officer, Gulf Crafts on the sidelines of the International Boating Conference organised by CII in Mumbai.

Gulf Crafts are owners of the well-known brands like Majesty Yacht, Oryx and Silver Craft.
According to Mr Bamps, there has been a 60-70 per cent reduction in business for pleasure boats in Europe and United States and they are looking at emerging markets for growth.

The France head-quartered Nautitech Catam-arans are now looking to expand their business in Asia, Brazil and Russia to offset the severe slowdown experienced in Greece, Italy and Spain.

“In China we had sold close to 4-5 boats last year and we hope to maintain the same volume in 2012 too. However in India, though we haven’t sold a single boat yet, we had received close to 10 enquiries so far suggesting that there is huge potential in the Indian market if the necessary infrastructure facilities are put in place,” said Mr Bruno Voisard, chief executive officer, Nautitech Catamarans.

Mr Steve Ashford, sales broker and director, CSO Yatchs Spain observed that his firm had managed to broker a couple of deals for Indians abroad, but have failed to sell a single boat in India.

At present, Dubai-based Majesty Yacht, UK head-quartered Sun Seeker and Princess and Italy based Azimut and Feretti are major suppliers of luxury boats in India.