The Director General of the Marine Department, Chula Sukmanop, who flew down from Bangkok for the meeting, said, “Our aim was to explain what the plan for Thailand is. We want to increase the number of marinas and invite more superyachts to come to Thailand.
“We have some coming already, but they are not allowed to charter. We are going to allow them [to do this and allow crews] to stay up to one year so can earn some money while they are in Thailand. This will create demand from tourists.
“International standards define a superyacht as anything over 24 metres and in Thailand, we have some [Thai-flagged yachts charter yacht of that size]. If we open up the market we need to make sure Thai operators will not be affected by new initiatives, so we have set a minimum length of 30 metres for [non-Thai-flagged] boats that may be chartered.
“There are a lot of yachts here but not enough marinas in Phuket. We know that many superyachts want to come to this part of the world and find a place to stay for long periods, so we are providing them with an opportunity to come to Thailand.
“If we allow them to make extra cash to cover their expenses they may stay here for a year or more, and use Thailand as a base instead of basing themselves in the Caribbean or Mediterranean for half the year.
“Yachts of less than 30 metres [that are no Thai-flagged] will not be allowed to charter. [For yachts over 30 metres] we will allow them to stay up to a year and the crew will be allowed to stay the same length of time.
“Actually, for yachts of less than 30 metres, we may allow them to stay longer, but I will need to check on the regulations and the possibilities. But they will still need to pay taxes.”
There was little opposition to the concept, but various people wanted to ensure environmental issues are properly taken care of, while others wanted to ensure that the regulations are easily understand. There was also a suggestion that a particular law for marinas needs to be written, in order to avoid confusion.
But Gulu Lalvani, who pushed for the rule changes at a meeting in January with Minister of Tourism Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, said he was very pleased with the speed at which the government had responded.
“We want quality tourism – not just quantity but quality people who spend money. Yacht owners are above-average wealthy. They are good for the economy. They will spend money and if big yachts are here available for charter, the rich people will want big yachts to charter, [which are] currently not available”.
He said that allowing foreign-flag yachts to charter without paying seven per cent VAT and allowing crews to stay for a year are both steps in the right direction.
“There are two kinds of people coming here: those who buy villas because they want to stay in one place and those who buy boats because they want to move around .[The boat owners] do not want to pay VAT in every country they visit, so this is a disincentive [to boats coming to Phuket].
“This will bring in a new kind of tourist. They don’t come to Phuket at the moment because there are no nice boats to charter. This will be a much bigger boom, you will see, for shopping and it will be good for the economy.
“Luxury people want to have luxury yachts. People don’t mind paying US$50,000-100,000 [B1.5 to 3 million] a week to go on a yacht with their family. But there are none available in Phuket.
“I go to Turkey every year and charter a big yacht. I pay US$100,000 a week but there is nothing like that available here.”
Chris Gordon, founder of sailboat charter company Sunsail felt, however, that the 30-metre-plus rule was too restrictive. “We should be aiming for crewed yachts. These boats stay here for a longer period, employ crews [locally], spend money in the shipyards, spend money on maintenance and facilities.
“These are the boats that bring real money into Phuket and bring tourists who go to restaurants and bars. The crewed yacht is what we want.
“Megayachts spend very little money. They look fantastic and I'm happy to see them here, but let’s concentrate on the 60- to 90-foot [18-27-metre] yachts that bring in the money and the tourists.”
Governor Nisit Jansomwong summed up at the end of the meeting. “We have decided to move on with this but we need to create a balance between environment, economics and society. This is a government policy. It’s important to be able to show that if we do it, Phuket will benefit from it.
“As for the idea of reducing taxes for rich people’s business, please drop that idea, and collect taxes as usual. This is not a business involving the poor. The richer they are, the more they should pay. Their home countries collect far higher taxes from them than we do. I know that they will understand.
“When the government has set the policy, we will continue to be a hub for marine leisure but we need to ensure that every sector is prepared for it.”