Beijing will finally get its first yacht club on the Kunyu River which links the Summer Palace to Beijing city centre.
BEIJING- A yacht club, claimed as Beijing’s first and comparable to the world’s best examples of such centers, is to be established on a major waterway running through the city’s downtown, it has been agreed.
Luxury yachts will shuttle on the 10-km Kunyu River, which runs southward from the Summer Palace into Beijing’s city center, according to a contract signed on Sunday between the Beijing Jing Cheng River Basin Tourism Development Inc. and the Beijing Jing Cheng Long Mai Yacht Club Inc..
The two companies will jointly develop the water-bound sightseeing project to cater for business receptions, recreation and cultural activities on a river that dates back to ancient times.
“The club will be operated based on yacht management on the Seine, Rhine and other famous rivers around the world,” said Ding Hua, board chairman of the Beijing Jing Cheng Long Mai Yacht Club Inc.
Ding said the project, to be run on a membership basis, will also offer yacht leasing, modern office space, and family outings.
According to statistics released last September at a Yacht Exhibition organized in Tianjing, North of Beijing, China is expected to see a dramatic increase in yacht ownership and the value of the industry is expected to reach 150 billion yuan over the next decade.
Xie Yilou, deputy head of the Hainan Yachting Association, said relevant facilities, including public piers and open sea waters, should be improved in order to change the image of yachting, which has long been regarded by the public as a luxury leisure activity reserved for the elite.
He suggested that people could chip in on one expensive yacht and divvy up their yachting time.
“For example, 10 people could buy one yacht at 10 million yuan. Then, each owns 10 percent of the property and each goes yachting for 10 days at separate times,” Xie said.
They could rent the yacht to others to operate during the remaining days of the year, a move that could cover anchoring and maintenance fees and generate a return of about 5 percent, he added.
(Source: Xinhuanet)
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
