Korea
11-15 June 2008
Korean International Boat Show
Photo: Guy Nowell
You have to start somewhere and if 175,000 visitors to a boat
show is best effort for a first event, it really is pretty good. The
inaugural Korea International Boat Show, which ran 11-15 June,
took place alongside a ‘marine festival’ at the site of the future Jeongok
Marina, near Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province. The marine festival,
which included stage shows and large scale entertainment, attracted
350,000 attendees, and about half of them visited the Boat Show as
well – figures far in excess of expectations.
Prior to the event, an exhibitor at the Hong Kong Gold Coast Boat
Show described the Korean marine leisure industry as “prehistoric”,
but that opinion may have to be adjusted. True, there aren’t fleets
of pleasure craft all around the country… yet. But there are about
6,000 pleasure vessels in Korea (which has a population of 48 million,
of which 22 million are in Gyeonggi Province, where large sums of
government money are being invested in marine infrastructure).
And unlike other Asian “emerging markets”, Korea does have a
concept of marine leisure and non-commercial boating. It is a relatively
simple matter to licence a recreational craft in Korea, and you can get
a licence to sail or drive it – 22,000 licences were issued last year, so
there are quite a few people looking for a boat to drive right now!
Recent government legislation enforcing a five-day working week
means that savers are about to become consumers. Actual hardcash
buyers may not have been much in evidence at this inaugural
event, but Barry Jenkins, President of the Australian Marine Industry
Federation (AMIF) was quite upbeat about the show. ‘Considering
they put it all together in six months, it was excellent. Governor Kim
Moon-Soo has declared that he wants KIBS to be the biggest boat
show in Asia by 2010”, Jenkins said. Merely counting visitor numbers,
it already is! And there were 230 exhibitors from 22 countries
manning the stands. Compare those figures with any of the other
boats shows in Asia – Gold Coast and/or Marina Cove (Hong Kong),
Boat Asia (Singapore), PIMEX (Phuket) or CIBS (Shanghai).
“They have to create the interest in recreational boating and one
way is to put volumes of people through the show", added Jenkins.
Currently three marinas exist in Korea with at least 12 other projects
actively under way, including four in Gyeonggi Province that are being
directly funded by the province and will be completed over the next
four years with a total of 1,000 berths. No doubt South Korea has
excellent potential for growth to become one of the key leisure boating
markets in Asia. You just have to begin somewhere… |
