(ECNS) - Up to 70 percent of the 4,000 registered yachts in the Chinese mainland are in a long-term state of halt, and many yacht clubs operate in the red, the China Business News reported.
Kuang Xiangrong, a member of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club with 35 years of yachting experience, said the mainland's yacht industry is in an unhealthy state of development.
Many companies flock to purchase high-end business yachts, some clubs have ambiguous orientations, and the form of profit making is especially narrow, said Kuang.
He also said the lack of government policy support and infrastructure means the yachting industry is still in a primitive stage.
About 4,000 yachts are registered in the mainland, mainly in South China's Hainan province and Shenzhen city, according to the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry.
But data released at a seminar in Shanghai showed that about 70 percent of those yachts have not been in use for a long time, and a majority of clubs are losing money, the newspaper reported.
The manager of a Shanghai-based yacht club said the mainland's clubs mainly run on two models: invested by real estate developers to boost the value of properties, and self-owned clubs as business ventures.
However, neither model works since real estate developers don't count much on yachts to gain investment return, and independently run clubs also have financial difficulties because of unfavorable government policy.
Some clubs are required by the government to meet standards in size or scale, which increases the investment, according to the manager who asked to remain anonymous.
A well-developed yacht club in the mainland has about 300 members, but that is insufficient to cover the operation cost of the club, Kuang said.
Yang Xinfa, director of the yacht section of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry, said China's yacht industry concentrates too much on the high-end market and is inaccessible to ordinary people.
Kuang still believes the future looks bright due to China's long coastline and the rising per capita GDP in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and around the Bohai-Sea Economic Zone, which has reached 8,000 U.S. dollars.
