Ocean Independence On The Key Elements To China’s Yachting Success

This is a view shared by Peter Hürzeler, Owner and Managing Partner of Ocean Independence, who spoke to us at the 2015 China Rendez-Vous about why it is essential for big yachting brands to build a presence in China sooner rather than later.

“We find that in today’s environment when things grow together closer and closer in general, on the travel side and the business side, and information and communications, we find it very important that Ocean Independence is presented globally,” he began, “because people have to see us in various places, have to remember us, and people also are expecting of a strong brand, strong company, to be represented globally.

“We are here to find out what the China market can eventually produce. Of course for most companies in our business China is not yet a big element in our annual turnover. What we all hope is that China will develop as an important market in superyacht companies like us. And it is a bit of the El Dorado question because it could be that it’s not there, or it could be that it is there and it will be huge for the yachting industry, including for Ocean Independence of course.

“We see two elements that are going to be decisive in whether this is going to be a booming market or not. On the one hand we see clearly that there is a wish to live the lifestyle of the rich and famous globally, so we will see and we are already seeing signs of that, that the very rich Chinese are doing the same things that the rich people in other parts of the world are doing.

“We also have worried for a long time that the cultural differences in behaviour, like not having many holidays, not being out in the sun, not liking watersports, is slowly eroding with the younger generation and we believe that this will be an important element in making superyachting a success in China.”

You can watch the full video interview with Peter Hürzeler above this article.