Superyacht ultimate status symbol for Asia’s ultra-rich

Forget about limousines, penthouse apartments, private jets and other trappings of newfound wealth.

For Asia’s growing ranks of the ultra-rich, a superyacht has become the ultimate status symbol, and manufacturers of luxury craft are setting course for a region which by one count now boasts more than 330 billionaires.

“I love having a yacht as it’s a home that moves and I have a different view everyday,” Singaporean tycoon Arthur Tay, one of the city-state’s pioneering yachtsmen, said.

Tay owns Hye Seas II, a sleek 35.4-metre vessel that dominates a marina club he set up in the exclusive Sentosa Cove seaside enclave.

The vessel boasts wood-panelled walls, a well-stocked bar, flat-screen televisions and plush sofas looking out to a sweeping view of the sea.

“I relax when I’m on the boat – get away from all the noise,” Tay said.

He declined to disclose the cost of the yacht but a well-informed executive in the boat business estimated its worth at close to $12 million.

Tay, chairman of lifestyle products and services firm SUTL, said he takes his vessel out to sea three times a month on average with family and friends to nearby tourist hotspots like Phuket and Bali.

Jean-Jacques Lavigne, executive director of the Singapore Superyacht Association, who defines a superyacht as any private leisure vessel measuring more than 24 metres in length, says 216 are based in Asia.

That’s double the number just two to four years ago, he says, but just a sliver of the global total of 7,000.

“There are two factors which are contributing to the growth. One is obviously the huge wealth creation in Asia, the second one being the investment in infrastructure, mostly good quality marinas,” said.

“It”s very easy to grow a new industry because it’s starting from a very, very low point,” he added.

US business magazine Forbes in March named Asia as the region with the second-largest population of billionaires worldwide behind the United States, leapfrogging Europe for the first time in history.

The population of Asians with fortunes of one billion US dollars or higher surged to 332 in 2011 from 234 last year, with growth led by China, whose total jumped from 69 to 115.

The number easily surpassed Europe’s 300 billionaires, while American billionaires numbered 413. Despite Asia’s comparatively small superyacht fleet size, US economist Jonathan Galaviz, who follows Asia’s luxury sector, estimated the region’s superyacht industry at $5 billion, from boat purchases to maintenance and crew.

“It would not be unreasonable for the industry to grow by double-digit figures over the next five years,” he remarked.

“As the economies of Asia continue their abnormally fast economic growth, there are bound to be greater levels of purchases of ultra-luxury items such as superyachts.”

To expose Asians to the superyacht industry and bring foreign yachtsmen to the region, the organiser of the prestigious Monaco Yacht Show, the Informa Yacht Group, held its first Asian gathering over the weekend in Singapore.

“There is an absolutely clear, latent propensity to consume this kind of big-ticket item here,” said Andy Treadwell, managing director of the group.

“We’re doing our bit to try and make Singapore the hub of the superyacht industry in Southeast Asia, and in the same way that that’s true of Monaco and Europe, that’s definitely what our aim is here,” he added.

Treadwell said more visits by superyachts from other parts of the world would spur development of the industry in the region.

A total of 81 superyachts visited Singapore in 2010 compared to 16 in 2006, according to the Singapore Superyacht Association.

More marinas are being planned in Singapore as well as other Asian countries such as China, South Korea and Indonesia.

China in particular is planning for “hundreds of marinas” along its lengthy coastline while Indonesia intends to introduce them in poor, outlying coastal villages to help alleviate poverty, SSA’s Lavigne said.