This year’s Australian Superyacht and Marine Export conference (ASMEX) started on Tuesday, May 21, hosting Australian industry figures, as well as international supporters. The attitude was one of cooperation and the mood was determined, focused and sharp as the Australian superyacht industry planned its future steps on the first day of the conference.
Day 1 of 2013 ASMEX Conference
The central theme of the day was cohesion; working together as a country to overcome legislative brakes on forward momentum, working together as a nation to open up new markets and share insight on the best approach in doing business with them, and working together as a region to bring superyacht visitors to Australia, New Zealand and the greater South Pacific.
After the official opening by AIMEX president, Richard Chapman, MaryAnne Edwards, chief executive of AIMEX and Superyacht Australia took to the floor to give her members the crucial information they need to break into the lucrative – and neighbouring – Asian markets. But not with the intention of grabbing new consumers.
As Erwin Bamps, COO of Gulf Craft, pointed out later in the day, Asian markets may be growing exponentially but that growth is an improvement on markets that were very small to begin with. Growth is great, but it’s not enough (at present) to make up for the lag in European markets.
Instead, what Edwards urged the Australian industry to do was explore whether offshore markets – she cited Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand – and explained that information was the key to unlocking opportunity in the region. Those opportunities include a dramatically lower minimum wage than in Australia and tax benefits, but making a strategic move offshore, she stressed, could only be successful if a company had carried out due diligence in identifying the risk factors in operating in each new market.
Other topics covered today included the effect each global market has on the Australian industry, strategies to better partner with New Zealand to achieve greater clout in the international arena and marketing strategies in a new media environment.
The real take away from the day though, is that Australia is in prime position to move forward and take up her place on the world superyacht industry stage.
