Simpson Marine and Beneteau Group APAC Support First Series of Asia Boating Dialogue, a New Initiative to Promote the Industry Across Asia

Simpson Marine, together with our long-term partners Groupe Beneteau and their APAC division, were recently Silver Sponsors of the ground-breaking initiative of a pan-Asia video conference. This special Asia Boating Dialogue (ABD) 2020 event was developed with the aim of grouping the industry together all the way from India to the Philippines and from Japan to Indonesia. Discussion topics included the local markets and current boating policies as well as seeking ways to improve the overall performance of the industry and ways to uniform the rules and regulations across the region. This was a very good initiative with the aim of sustainable growth and organic expansion for the region-wide industry.

Over 160 industry professionals joined together for the two free online sessions that made up the ABD 2020. An update of the Asia Boating Forum (ABF), which was started five years ago, the new initiative is a cooperation between the Singapore Yacht Association and the Hong Kong Boating Industry Association, along with the support of ICOMIA. The first of the two free round table webinars proved to be a welcome opportunity for members of the Asian boating industry to connect and network, especially given the dearth of boat shows this year. The first session focused on the South and South East Asia regions. Seven country representatives presented industry statistics, business trends, marine updates, boating regulations, and some local destination insights.  These included India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.

The second and final session of the ABD, supported by IBI, saw 150 delegates participate in a two-hour intensive dialogue around the North East Asian markets including seven key North East Asia markets – China, the Chinese market of Hainan, Hong and Macau, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.

A key conclusion from the two sessions of the ABD was the strong bounce back of the Asian markets from the Covid-19 crisis, resulting in increased boat usage with boat sales and charters currently very strong – especially for smaller powerboats and sailing yachts.

Organised jointly by Lawrence Chow, chair of the Hong Kong Boating Industry Association (HKBIA), and YP Loke, chair of the Singapore Boating Industry Association (SBIA), the online event was moderated by Udo Klienitz, secretary general of ICOMIA, and was made possible by industry sponsors including Beneteau APAC and Simpson Marine.

To read more on this initiative please visit: https://asiaboating.org/blog-page/