中國超級富豪為何對超級游艇不感冒

If there is one country where many people can affordto superyacht, it’s China. Now the world’s largesteconomy, some 11,000 Chinese citizens areconsidered ultra-wealthy, with assets over $30million, according to wealth intelligence firm,Wealth-X.

要說哪個國家有很多富人能買得起超級游艇，那絕對是中國。據(jù)財富情報機構(gòu)Wealth-X公司統(tǒng)計，作為全球最大的經(jīng)濟體之一，中國已經(jīng)擁有大約1.1萬名資產(chǎn)超過3000萬美元的“超級富豪”。

But, the superyacht industry hasn’t caught on big inChina.

但是，超級游艇業(yè)至今沒有在中國賺到多少錢。

 

 

Superyachts are officially defined as boats whose hulls at the water line measure longer than24 meters, or 79 feet. A superyacht — typically a private boat that requires a professionalcrew to operate — costs $6 million on up. Just 34 –or 0.7 percent — of the world’s 4,836superyachts are based in China, according to a 2013 study by the Auckland Government.

根據(jù)官方定義，超級游艇指的是那些吃水線長度超過24米的豪華游脡。一般來說，每艘超級游艇都需要由一支專業(yè)團隊來操作，單艘超級游艇的售價起碼在600萬美元以上。根據(jù)奧克蘭市政府在2013年所做的一項調(diào)查，全球現(xiàn)有的4836艘超級游艇中，只有34艘在中國，約占總數(shù)的0.7%。

In part, the lack of popularity is due to culture. Yachting is all about fun in the sun. Andtraditionally, many Chinese have avoided the sun and haven’t really done downtime.

超級游艇在中國遇冷的部分原因是中國的文化。游艇的妙處就在于享受大海和陽光。而傳統(tǒng)上，很多中國人都避免曬太陽，而且他們在休息時間也閑不下來。

“The Chinese are not used to the idea of time away from it all, especially not European style,”explained Colin Dawson, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Superyacht Association. “They tend totake a very different approach to yacht ownership – it’s a business tool, not a leisure item.”

亞太超級游艇協(xié)會主席科林o道森解釋道：“中國人不太習慣于遠離塵囂，尤其是不習慣歐洲的那種休閑方式。如果他們購買游艇，那往往是出于其它動機——對于中國富豪來說，游艇是一種商業(yè)工具，而不是休閑物品。”

Luc Khaldoun is the head of client advisory services at OneOcean Ventures, which provides arange of services for superyacht owners. He noted that his Chinese clients seemed to preferyachts with “little open space” and wanted to “limit time spent outside.”

盧克o哈勒敦是OneOcean Ventures公司的客戶咨詢服務(wù)總監(jiān)，這家公司主要向超級游艇買家提供一系列服務(wù)。哈勒敦指出，中國客戶貌似更加喜歡那種“開放空間小”的超級游艇，而且想“限制在外面停留的時間”。

There are also some pragmatic reasons why superyachting hasn’t caught on with the Chineseelite. China has a luxury goods import tax of 43 percent. Adding to the expense: the regionlacks experienced crew, so Chinese superyacht owners need to relocate Europeans andobtain work visas for them.

超級游艇沒有成為中國精英的玩物，或許還有一些更加實際的原因。中國的奢侈品進口稅達到了43%。另外中國也缺乏有經(jīng)驗的船員，所以游艇買家需要雇歐洲人給他們開船，這就免不了要為他們辦工作簽證。這些都會增加購買游艇的成本。

In recent years, the government also has cracked down on corporate corruption, and somemay fear that cruising around on a superyacht and using it to entertain clients (andgovernment officials) might make an exec more visible — and perhaps more of a target.

此外，中國政府近年來一直在大力整頓企業(yè)腐敗。一些富豪擔心乘坐游艇出行或是請客戶或官員出海享樂，可能會將他們暴露在調(diào)查人員的視野中。

And then, there’s just simple geography. Part of the appeal of cruising has been putteringaround idyllic Mediterranean archipelagos. While China has a few key marinas like Nansha Marinain Guangzhou and Ocean One International Yacht Club, it still lacks some of the infrastructure tosupport superyachts, such as repair yards, as well as the Mediterranean’s pretty coastline.

另外還有地理問題。對于歐洲人來說，游艇的另一個吸引力就是可以坐著它逛逛地中海的小島。但在中國，類似于南沙碼頭和一洋國際游艇俱樂部這樣的游艇碼頭寥寥無幾。此外，中國仍然缺少某些支持超級游艇的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，比如修理廠。更不用說也沒有像地中海那樣美麗的海岸線。

Of course, none of this has stopped a few ultra-wealthy Chinese from buying, and keeping,yachts — in Europe, the U.S., and even elsewhere in Asia. The superyacht market in China isgrowing, albeit very slowly. “Chinese looking into superyachts may buy in Europe and elsewherein Asia,” said Nigel Stuart, managing director of Spirits Yachts, a yacht building company. Henoted that Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are “stunning blue water cruising destinations.”European brokers are regulars at the Shanghai, Dalian and Hainan Rendez Vous boat shows,hoping to lure Chinese buyers with the dream of cruising around St. Tropez, Cannes, and Capri.

當然，種種因素也沒有能阻止少數(shù)中國超級富豪購買和保有游艇的腳步——只不過他們是在歐洲、美國和亞洲其它地區(qū)購買的。中國超級游艇市場雖然增速緩慢，但畢竟還是在增長。游艇制造公司Spirits Yachts的常務(wù)董事奈杰爾o斯圖爾特表示：“想購買超級游艇的中國人可能會在歐洲或亞洲的其它國家購買。”他指出，新加坡、泰國和馬來西亞都是“絕佳的航海目的地”。歐洲的游艇經(jīng)紀人經(jīng)常參加位于上海、大連和海南的游艇展，希望能夠吸引到那些夢想坐著游艇周游圣特魯佩斯、戛納和卡普里島的中國富豪。

While China may not yet be a destination for yachting itself, it is gaining a reputation as abase for yacht-building, primarily because of its lower costs. According to Boat International,China now ranks eighth in the top ten superyacht building nations, and 28 superyachts wereconstructed there in one year, mainly in Shandong and Guandong, according to the AucklandGovernment study.

盡管中國本身還不是一個游艇旅游的好去處，但作為游艇生產(chǎn)基地，它已經(jīng)積累了一定的口碑，特別是更低的制造成本。據(jù)《國際舟船》雜志報道，在十大超級游艇生產(chǎn)國中，中國目前排名第8位。另據(jù)奧克蘭市政府的調(diào)查顯示，中國目前年產(chǎn)超級游艇28艘，生產(chǎn)基地分別位于山東和廣東。

To be sure, the Chinese yacht construction is small fry compared to Italy’s 269 yachts builtlast year, but the 43 percent import tax on luxury goods means that domestic constructionin China will becoming even more appealing, as long as demand grows.

與意大利去年269艘游艇的產(chǎn)量相比，中國的產(chǎn)量顯得微不足道。但43%的奢侈品進口稅也意味著中國的國產(chǎn)游艇將更具吸引力——只要需求還在增長。

Meanwhile, China is not being written off as a market. Most superyacht brokers and builders saythey are just biding their time. Some have dipped their toes into the Chinese market by openinga shop in nearby Hong Kong or Singapore, which both have a strong expat population andinfrastructure better-suited to yachting.

與此同時，許多人也沒有放棄中國市場。大部分超級游艇經(jīng)銷商和制造商都表示，他們只是在等待時機。有些公司已經(jīng)開始試水中國市場，比如在香港或新加坡開設(shè)商店，這兩個地方都有很多中國移民，而且那里的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施也更適合游艇。

UK-based yacht designer Spirit Yachts opened in Hong Kong last year, while London-basedBurgess Yachts is opening in Singapore later this year. “We are slowly preparing for when Chinacomes on stream – when it does, it will come big,” said Jonathan Beckett, chief executive ofBurgess.

英國的游艇設(shè)計公司Spirit Yachts去年在香港開設(shè)了分公司，倫敦的Burgess Yachts公司也將于今年晚些時候在新加坡開設(shè)分號。Burgess Yachts公司CEO喬納森o貝克特表示：“我們正在慢慢準備中國市場的好轉(zhuǎn)。屆時，它將是一個龐大的市場。”

Many agree that China’s time will come, but just not for the next decade or so. “Is China thenew market for superyachts? Not yet – is the answer. North America, Europe, the Gulf and theMiddle East are still the markets of today,” said Beckett. Burgess, like many others, isrefocusing efforts on traditional markets, and sales are on the up. Last year the ultra high networth spent a combined $22 billion on yachts, according to data from Wealth-X.

很多人認同中國時代終將來臨，只不過可能還得等上十幾年甚至更久。貝克特說：“中國是否是超級游艇的新市場?答案是：至少現(xiàn)在還不是。目前的主要市場仍然是北美、歐洲、海灣地區(qū)和中東。”Burgess和許多其他游艇公司正在把主要精力集中在傳統(tǒng)市場上，而且銷量也正在上升。Wealth-X公司的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，去年全球超級富豪花在游艇上的錢達到了220億美元。

What the industry must remember is that it took 30 years to build a superyacht market in theWest, so it may still catch on in the East.

游艇行業(yè)必須清楚，這個行業(yè)花了30年時間才在西方國家形成氣候。要讓游艇在東方流行起來，也得花上不少時間。