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tirekicker11 · 09-14-2010, 11:10 PM

But it will be taking another decade or so before China is up and running regarding watersports.

It is a very strange situation. I remember the first China International Boatshow I visited was also visited by hundreds of People's Liberation Army soldiers just to get the visitors numbers up and attract large investors. On the other hand I know that the local government in the south is slowing things down because they don't want to expose the gap between rich and poor to much. Currently a buyer pays about 40% pleasure tax on top of the normal taxed (GST) boat.

IMHO I find that Chinese people are no 'waterpeople' in general. In proportion the majority of boats that actually leave the marina's here in Hong Kong are owned by westerners. Especially the sailing yachts. Many Chinese owned boats are only used as a status symbol and to entertain: playing majong or karaoke while lying in the marina. I dare to state that in the majority of the flybridge cruisers the beds have never been used.(to sleep on) Just because the average Chinese doesn't want to stay over night on a boat.

Selling boats to Chinese is a strange excersise. The first question a Chinese buyer asks is the discount (sometimes even over the phone before meeting) and the second question is about the speed. At boatshows all powerboats are advertised with their max speed.
I can't prove it but know that most of the new boats sold by dealers are sold with a discount so high that there is no profit made. You can not sell to a Chinese without giving discount, that would be an insult. So a discount of 20% on the MSRP price of a powerboat eats away all the profit a dealer can make after having had it stored on the hard or in a marine berth for some time at the local rates.

At this moment the infra structure for boating is poor in Hong Kong, especially compared to the US or Mediteranee simply because the local government isn't interested in pleasure boating.
In mainland China the infra structure is non existing; If you own a boat there are no places to visit and cruising around polluted ports as Dalian and Shanghai may get boring after some time. Even newly developed sites as Hainan have no real infrastructure.

The upperclass Chinese are looking into new ways of spending their money but it will take quite some time before China will be on the pleasure boating map if it ever will get there.

09-14-2010, 11:10 PM	#5 (permalink)
tirekicker11 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: SE Asia Posts: 325	But it will be taking another decade or so before China is up and running regarding watersports. It is a very strange situation. I remember the first China International Boatshow I visited was also visited by hundreds of People's Liberation Army soldiers just to get the visitors numbers up and attract large investors. On the other hand I know that the local government in the south is slowing things down because they don't want to expose the gap between rich and poor to much. Currently a buyer pays about 40% pleasure tax on top of the normal taxed (GST) boat. IMHO I find that Chinese people are no 'waterpeople' in general. In proportion the majority of boats that actually leave the marina's here in Hong Kong are owned by westerners. Especially the sailing yachts. Many Chinese owned boats are only used as a status symbol and to entertain: playing majong or karaoke while lying in the marina. I dare to state that in the majority of the flybridge cruisers the beds have never been used.(to sleep on) Just because the average Chinese doesn't want to stay over night on a boat. Selling boats to Chinese is a strange excersise. The first question a Chinese buyer asks is the discount (sometimes even over the phone before meeting) and the second question is about the speed. At boatshows all powerboats are advertised with their max speed. I can't prove it but know that most of the new boats sold by dealers are sold with a discount so high that there is no profit made. You can not sell to a Chinese without giving discount, that would be an insult. So a discount of 20% on the MSRP price of a powerboat eats away all the profit a dealer can make after having had it stored on the hard or in a marine berth for some time at the local rates. At this moment the infra structure for boating is poor in Hong Kong, especially compared to the US or Mediteranee simply because the local government isn't interested in pleasure boating. In mainland China the infra structure is non existing; If you own a boat there are no places to visit and cruising around polluted ports as Dalian and Shanghai may get boring after some time. Even newly developed sites as Hainan have no real infrastructure. The upperclass Chinese are looking into new ways of spending their money but it will take quite some time before China will be on the pleasure boating map if it ever will get there.