This year’s Expo was the first to include a Sanya sub-venue, with the Sanya Boat Festival attracting 62 companies from over 20 countries who put over 150 yachts on display. Overseas buyer groups from 19 countries and regions including Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa were on site at the event.

On April 16, the CICPE Sanya Boat Festival welcomed a large number of attendees interested in viewing the yachts on display. (Photo: Hainan Daily)

The main draw of the Sanya Boat Festival was the yacht show, held alongside a variety of supporting activities. The event highlighted the CICPE guest country of honor’s UK Marinetime Culture Pavilion as well as the Yacht Wedding Pavilion, which featured wedding dresses and evening gowns from mainly British brands, including six top international wedding dress brands: Vivienne Westwood, Jenny Packham, Marchesa, Stella McCartney, Needle & Thread, and Self-Portrait. Around 15 million yuan ($2 million) of intended transactions were signed at the Yacht Wedding Pavilion.

Boats on display at the UK Marinetime Culture Pavilion. (Photo: Hinews)

The event set up an excellent communication platform for yacht enthusiasts, investors, and industry experts, injected new life into the development of Sanya’s yacht industry, and polished the city’s reputation as the ‘Asia-Pacific Yacht Capital’.

Sanya is a popular tropical coastal vacation destination, providing a ‘golden coast’ and ‘natural harbor’ for yachts. The city has become the barometer of China’s yacht consumer market and a new focus of the international sailing community.

On April 16, the CICPE Sanya Boat Festival held a water sports demonstration in the waters near the Banshan Peninsula. (Photo: Hainan Daily)

The city boasts an excellent policy environment. Free Trade Port policies such as the ‘zero tariff’ import of yachts, free travel of yachts between Sanya, Hong Kong, and Macao, and the abolishing of guarantee deposit requirements for yachts traveling from ports outside the Chinese Mainland are being piloted, and industry reforms such as night yacht rentals and ‘one stop yacht services’ have been first implemented in Sanya.

The city boasts an excellent location. Sanya is located on the golden tourism line of 18° north latitude and has a 264.42 km. long coastline dotted with world class harbors such as Haitang and Yalong Bays. The area enjoys over 300 days of good sailing weather every year, making this a natural yacht resort destination.

The city’s yacht industry is booming. In 2024, a total of 127,900 sea voyages were made by Sanya yachts carrying over 900,000 boaters. By the end of 2024, there were a total of 1,415 yachts registered citywide, the most of any city in the nation.