Pattaya, Thailand, November 2, 2021 / TRAVELINDEX / In line with the dramatic recent resurgence of the leisure boating industry – boosted, somewhat perversely perhaps, by the two-year pandemic – the organisers of the Thailand Yacht Show are delighted to announce a significant development in their yacht show portfolio. Verventia have just agreed a new partnership with the owners of Ocean Marina in Pattaya to build an important extension of Thailand’s very own, six-year-old Yacht Show – a second annual showcase in the beautiful Gulf of Thailand, just down the road from Bangkok, next door to the emerging boating markets in Cambodia and Vietnam, and a short sail from the massive potential of Hainan, Hong Kong and Greater China.
With the enthusiastic support of local and regional dealers of the best-known global yachting brands, as well as Thailand’s government – all very keen to see the leisure boating industry expand on the Eastern seaboard – the Thailand Yacht Show from next year onwards will be staged in both Phuket and Pattaya. The two parts of the show are being carefully planned in consultation with its long-standing exhibitors, and especially with regards to timing; in a normal year, they will likely be held at different ends of the season – at the beginning, in November, in Pattaya, and towards the end, in March, in Phuket.
For next year, however, things are still far from being normal; organisers Verventia are keeping their promise to be cautious, watching the ongoing pandemic-related tourism restrictions carefully, hopeful like everyone of their gradual easing, but listening to and liaising closely with both industry and government stakeholders before making any premature declarations. If all goes as well as is currently hoped, both events are now looking likely to take place in March/April – avoiding the Songkran festivities, of course.
Napong Paripontpochanapisuti, Managing Director of Ocean Property Company, the owners and operators of Ocean Marina, said today: “There is very strong demand for boating in the Gulf of Thailand now, especially from people living in and around Bangkok, and we can only see this getting stronger. Ocean Marina has for many years been leading the drive to grow boating here, and the idea of a professionally-run boat show going forwards is exactly what we need to take things to the next level.”
He continued: “We are therefore highly delighted to be working with the organisers of the Thailand Yacht Show for a second, very important, part of their well-established international event. We like their plans to bring in new boating consumers from China, Vietnam, Korea and the whole of the north-eastern part of the region via the shores of the Gulf – this is exactly what our clients in the industry on the Eastern Seaboard want to hear. We look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration with Verventia, and are very excited about how things are developing on this side of Thailand as well as in Phuket, and in the whole region generally.”
The Phuket show will feature many of the luxury superyachts that will be coming in bigger and bigger numbers every year, now that the infamous superyacht charter license has finally been brought into the field of play – thanks to the unflagging efforts of Verventia and the superyacht committee of the TMBA over the past 6 years since the launch of TYS, which was initiated by the government for this very purpose. .
Simpson Marine, a founding partner of the Thailand Yacht Show and all Verventia’s three regional shows, is invariably the biggest exhibitor, and next year for the long-awaited 6th edition of TYS will have an extraordinary display of at least 10 yachts, showcasing the latest models from Aquila, Beneteau, Bluegame, Fairline, Lagoon and Sanlorenzo.
Simpson Marine Country Manager for Thailand, Howard Prime, said: “This is the news we’ve been waiting for. We’ve all been through a pretty difficult time over the past couple of years, but I have to say sales are picking up well now – and I believe this is reflected by many of our colleagues in the yachting industry. We’ve all been waiting for the Bangkok market for boating to open up, and now it’s finally starting to happen. The idea of keeping the continuity of one professional yacht show but spread over the two main destinations in Thailand is an excellent one. We applaud the decision of Ocean Marina to keep the faith and bring in the region’s best boat show organisers to help drive the market here as well as in Phuket.”
Andy Treadwell, CEO of Verventia, is also highly encouraged: “Whilst all our exhibitors have thankfully been doing extraordinarily well over the past 18 months, it has been very hard for us, having had to cancel no less than 5 shows. But this new agreement with Ocean Marina achieves an important strategic objective – the crucial break-through for our exhibitors into the Bangkok and Rest-of-Thailand markets that we’ve been trying to attract to Phuket for the past 6 years.” Asked by many professional observers – even one from the USA – to comment on the latest attempt to sabotage TYS and start another new show in Phuket, Treadwell responded: “All our wonderful exhibitors have said it all for us over the last few months. We don’t need to say anything more.