Dubai: Industry officials expect the boating market to pick up during the Dubai International Boat Show (DIBS) that starts today.
With about 400 boats on display from several manufacturers across the world, the show will feature 15 world exclusive premiers and 25 regional launches of boats and yachts.
"This boat show will be slightly better because uncertainty has dropped. [The] comfort level of spending is slowly increasing from here on," said Nasser Al Sha'ali, chief executive officer of Gulf Craft, a UAE-based manufacturer.
Experts also said that the market would invest into the future if they felt secure about its prospects.
Erwin Bamps, chief operating officer of Gulf Craft, said the yachting lifestyle in the region was still in its early stages of development, leaving a lot of room for opportunities.
He said there were 45,000 boats registered in the GCC for recreational purposes.
One out of every 350 people in the UAE owns a boat.
On the other hand, one in every seven people in Norway owns a boat, and the small island country of Japan has 400,000 boats.
Compared to international markets such as the United States, which has 13 million boats, the local industry is still in its infancy.
Underdeveloped
Bamps said the regional market was severely underdeveloped for a fledgling marine lifestyle as there was a limited number of marinas in the Arab region.
He added that the neighbouring market of India had none.
Meanwhile, Al Sha'ali said the boating market had changed dramatically since the economic downturn and it was now a buyer's market.
"It is slightly maturing in the Gulf region… it's not yet in good [shape to allow it to welcome] luxury products. There is a lot of new money that's also nervous money," he said.
He said negotiations had been taking longer in recent months and considerable effort was required to close deals.
Though the market was shaken up in terms of confidence, yacht prices had not seen much of a dip.
"There has certainly been pressure on prices because of the reduction in demand. We've seen some segment prices come down, particularly in the used-yacht market," Al Sha'ali said.
With the collapse or bankruptcy of some manufacturers in international markets such as the United States, Europe and Australia, a lot of their assets had been dumped onto the markets and that had a negative affect on pricing owing to an increase in supply.
However, with new yachts, manufacturers have worked their way around falling prices in their bid to attract new customers.
"We've been able to maintain value," he said.
Al Sha'ali added that while financial lenders were "unwilling or unable" to mortgage or finance boats, Emirates NBD's new policy of offering financing at the boat show would help the local industry.
