Singapore Yacht Show gears up for 2012 Edition

by Informa Group on 1 Feb 2012 The inaugural edition of the Singapore Yacht Show was deemed a great success by the industry and now, almost a year down the track, all the stakeholders, sponsors, exhibitors and organisers alike, are eagerly looking forward to the next show at the end of April 2012.

The superyacht industry is poised to really take off in Asia Pacific, and the event which has been 3 years in the making, is a major driver for this. The organisers are also focussed on getting existing yacht owners from the Mediterranean to come to enjoy the stunning cruising waters immediately surrounding Singapore, in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

In the last few years, the number of millionaires and billionaires in Asia has soared, with the region now one of the key contributors to global wealth growth. China, India, Indonesia and Singapore are all in the top 20 of contributing countries with an astonishing number of high net-worth people who are looking for new ways to invest their money and flaunt their wealth.

The organisers have also succeeded in getting major sponsorship and support from the Singapore Tourism Board. Smart governments in Asia are looking at the importance of the yachting industry, changing their maritime laws and local regulations accordingly. Indonesia, for example, has just eased the restrictions on yachts wishing to cruise their waters, by removing previously punitive tax guarantees and increasing the number of authorised ports for customs clearance. Our colleagues and partners in the Singapore and Asia Pacific Superyacht Industry Associations have played a major role in these changes.

The format of the Singapore Yacht Show has already evolved this year, mainly at the industry's behest. The event organisers are working hand in hand with the Singapore Tourism Board to both promote the Singapore Yacht Show as a real lifestyle event, and to support their aim of promoting Singapore as an extraordinary luxury destination. With its casinos and integrated resorts, its 'free zone' for wealth management, all its high-end entertainment facilities, fine dining and 6-star hotels, it fully deserves its new-found status as the regional hub for the superyacht industry and its attendant big spenders.

The organisers are already generating considerable media attention even this early. Curiosity about the luxury lifestyle of yacht owners, the prestige and status that owning a boat affords, and the trend in Asia to show off personal wealth, are piquing the interest of luxury media, business magazines and the national dailies.

They are leveraging this interest and working out media partnerships in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Local TV stations, like Channel News Asia, are keen to get a better understanding of the yachting lifestyle. For an industry that is in its infancy, part of our role is educational - showing those who can afford it, what the yachting lifestyle could mean to them. All the media attention surrounding the event can only be good news for the Singapore Yacht Show and for Informa.