China plans to build a luxury superyacht marina in the northern city of Tianjin by the year’s end, which will allow the country’s super-rich to dock their luxury vessels at a port near the capital Beijing, local officials stated on Wednesday.
China to build superyacht marina in Tianjin, Beijing
The new superyacht umarina will cover an area of 900,000 square meters in Tianjin’s booming Binhai district and will have 750 berths to accommodate superyachts up to 92m (300ft). The marina will be part of a larger development that will include five-star hotels, a yacht club and a yacht building and repair area.
Only people with an annual income of over 200,000 yuan ($30,000) will be allowed to sign up for membership to the yacht club to rent a luxury vessel, while members who intend to buy a yacht would need an annual income of over 2 million yuan ($300,000), officials said.
China’s economy has seen a fast-expanding middle class in recent years. The latest Hurun Rich List, which was published on Oct 12th, details the country now has 1,363 billionaires, 97 of them with personal wealth of over 10 billion yuan.
“The time is actually perfect in China for the yacht industry to take off,” said David Brightling, general manager of the yacht club of Hong Kong-based Rainbow Land Holdings Ltd, which is one of the sponsors of Dongjiang yacht port.
“I think one of the things we can do is to train young people to drive any kind of boat and let them have more fun,” Brightling added.
