On December 6th Camper & Nicholsons co-hosted the**_Start of the Phuket Yachting Season_**celebration with renowned Royal Huisman superyacht shipyard at the Kata Rocks Resort in Phuket. The well attended party coincided with the lay-day of the Phuket King’s Cup and prominent members of the sailing community honoured the event with their presence.
Opening the proceedings, Mr. Apichart Chirabandhu, Advisor to the **Minister of Tourism & Sport**, said: “The **Tourism Authority of Thailand** and the **Ministry of Tourism & Sports** are delighted to continue to support the **Thailand Yacht Show & RendezVous**, to show our commitment to create new opportunities that will boost Phuket’s and Thailand’s economies. By growing the marine tourism industry, we will attract quality visitors and high-end leisure tourists with significant purchasing power.”
Asia Pacific Superyachts Singapore’s Clarence Chong reminds all of Singapore’s rich culture and traditions celebrating Chinese New Year with performances, food and activities. The spectacular street light-up illuminates the entire Chinatown of Singapore, attracting a greater number of superyacht visitors along with tourists and locals.
“We opened in 2011,” explains Giovanni Toumi, manager of Infinite Yachts. “The company specializes in the sale of new and used boats, as well as yacht management and charters.” Initially located in Golfe-Juan, Infinite Yachts has since opened three other offices in Saint-Tropez, San Remo and, in 2016, in Phuket to represent Sunreef catamarans. “Business in Europe is somewhat erratic, especially in winter,” says Giovanni Toumi. “This is why we looked for another location. We considered the United States, but there are too many competitors. Asia, on the other hand, still has only a few brokers. The ports are developing very quickly and it is very open to international trade. Today, the market is booming. Phuket already has four marinas, and a fifth is under construction for yachts up to 100 metres. Now is the right time to be there!”
The upcoming edition of the[Thailand Yacht Show & Rendezvous](https://www.thailandyachtshow.com/), held 10 to 13 January 2019, is must-do show that will see a major industry merge of two successful boat shows: PIMEX (rebranded as Phuket Rendezvous in 2018) and the Thailand Yacht Show, now rebranded as one show, the[Thailand Yacht Show & Rendezvous.](https://www.thailandyachtshow.com/)
Global Marine Travel GMT who’s largest global office is located in Makati, Manila has recently been working with [**Air Juan**](http://www.airjuan.com/), a Seaplane company, whose planes land and take off in Manila Bay. The planes use Subic Bay as a base. Subic Bay is fast becoming a hub for Super Yachts visiting the area as there are many first class facilities in available in Subic, including, dockage, refueling opportunities dry dock facilities and experienced port agency services headed up by former Super Yacht Captain Brian Gillies and his wife Bhing ([http://spdsinc.com](http://spdsinc.com/)).
Supported by the Australian Government Department of Jobs and Small Business, East Coast Apprenticeships, with the help and encouragement of key industry proponents, plans to deliver the ‘Launch into Work’pre-employment project targeting the superyacht sector. Queensland State Government has also committed funds to implement the program.
Benetti greets the new year by launching BD104 M/Y “Eurus”, the fourth model of Delfino 95’, 29-meter-long and 7-meter-wide displacement yacht belonging to the Class product line. Precious and refined interiors, enriched with parquet and marble flooring, combine with sleek exterior spaces created by the designer Giorgio M. Cassetta.
It’s an important strategic decision to take part in the Boot Düsseldorf. From January 19th to 27th, Benetti will be present both inside the Exhibition, in the pavilion dedicated to superyachts, and at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, in the heart of the City of Düsseldorf. At the Boot, three scale models of the Classic category, will be displayed: Delfino 95, Mediterraneo 116 and Diamond 145, all of which yielded a huge success. While the hotel will host the scale representations of M/Y “Metis”, “Spectre”, BNow 63 and Oasis 40M.
_The model is the first of a new generation of MCY Collection Yachts._
