Deputy PM launches Thailand Yacht Show

PHUKET: Deputy Prime Minister General Thanasak Patimaprakorn officially launched the much-anticipated Thailand Yacht Show yesterday.

The marine festivities will run for seven days from February 8 to 14 at Ao Po Grand Marina, the event organizers, Singapore Yacht Events Pte Ltd (SYE), announced earlier this month (story here).

Activities will range from recreational sailing, paddle boarding and water sports to in-depth industry conferences.

Tours of significant marine and tourism infrastructure will also be conducted to familiarize international brokers with the possibilities in Phuket and broader Thailand. Additionally, there will be social and networking events to bring industry leaders and clients together to ignite new relationships in a convivial atmosphere.

One of Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha’s initiatives has been to create an international yacht show for Thailand and to make Phuket the principal hub for superyachts in Asia, while also giving his full support for bureaucratic changes to help boost marine tourism (story here).

“Before embarking on this major yacht show to invite the local and international boating industry to promote Thailand as a yachting destination, we decided to create a national framework which would attract more yachts to visit and stay in Thailand. This includes the change in superyacht charter regulations, more yachting friendly immigration and customs rules, introduction of new locations for marina and investment promotion packages for marina,” Deputy PM Thanasak Patimaprakorn said.

Andy Treadwell, founder and owner of SYE, expressed his excitement over the tremendous amount of support the Thailand Yacht Show has received so far.

“I am absolutely delighted that, thanks to the initiative of the Prime Minister himself, and the tremendous proactivity of the Minister of Transport and the Director General of the Marine Department in particular, we have recently been able to announce the new charter licence for foreign-flagged superyachts. As a result, we are today able to launch a truly international yacht show for Thailand,” he said.

Rico Stapel of Princess Yachts SEA addressed guests at the event and commented on the partnership between SYE and the Marine Department.

“We are delighted that the Marine Department has chosen to work with Khun Andy and his team on this new Yacht Show for Thailand; we have all seen the impressive show that they have developed in Singapore in a very short space of time and we are fully confident that they are the best people to develop a fantastic show here too.”