Inaugural Singapore Yacht Show

Inaugural Singapore Yacht Show launches at Sentosa

Singapore has taken a major step towards becoming the Monaco of the East, with the launch of the inaugural Singapore Yacht Show on Friday. This makes the island only the third city, after Monaco and Abu Dhabi, to stage both the F1 Grand Prix and the super yacht show.

Twelve luxury yachts are part of the line-up for the inaugural show at One Degree 15 in Sentosa. From a stunning 57-metre motor-sailor with huge masts to a traditionally-built sailing yacht, for a more nostalgic feel.

The organisers put the show together at short notice and showed that they could deliver.

Andy Treadwell, Managing Director of the Informa Yacht Group, said: "Three months is absolutely not enough time to organise a proper yacht show.

"But for lots of reasons to do with our stakeholders and our own take on the need to launch a show now means that we have done it and we are very pleased. Lots of interest and looking forward to a really fantastic show in 2012."

The fledgling super yacht industry is set to create spin-offs for other supporting services.

Arthur Tay, Chairman of One Degree 15 Marina Club, said: "Retrofitting, interiors, F&B, sales of the boats, some of the conference things like cruising grounds, tourism aspects all have a part to play with this."

The three-day event was officially opened by the Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, S. Iswaran, who said that Singapore has the potential to be the "third destination" for super yacht owners, after the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

It looks smooth sailing for this industry, with 81 unique super yacht visits to Singapore last year, a five-fold increase from 2006. And that is why this show is looking at doubling the number of boats to 25 for the 2012 edition.

-News courtesy of Channel Newsasia-