on 11 Mar 2021
V Yachts Asia has extensive hotel and resort experience in southern Thailand
Ferretti Group has announced that V Yachts Asia Co., Ltd. was officially appointed exclusive distributor for Thailand for Ferretti Group’s Ferretti Yachts, Pershing and Riva brands.
The partnership will enable the Ferretti Group to improve its presence in Thailand with the opening of new offices for the Ferretti Group brands around the country, the company said in a statement.
Mr. Sornkom Kitprasan, chief executive of V Yachts Asia, said: “We have been deeply involved in luxury seaside and waterside leisure developments through multiple investments in hotels and resorts as well as six-star development in the south of Thailand with yachts facilities. Extending our line of luxury leisure offerings with these great yacht brands will help us provide a fuller and richer luxury leisure experience for customers.”
Kitprasan is president of the Soraya Development Company Limited, which has been developing resorts around Phang Nga Bay in partnership with the Intercontinental Hotels Group, according to trade media reports.
“Thailand is a strategic market for our regional and international presence. In recent years, the market has experienced a shift toward local clients eager to experience yachting,” said Fabiomassimo Discoli, sales and marketing director for Ferretti Group Asia Pacific Ltd. “We are extremely excited about our new collaboration with V Yachts Asia, a local partner with solid social connections and profound knowledge in luxury, entertainment and our element: the sea!”
In recent months, the Thai government has been sending encouraging signals about developing the yacht industry in the wake of Covid-19 and related lockdowns. Foreign-flagged superyachts in Thailand no longer need to pay VAT on the value of the vessel to do charter business, a recent development that was long-sought by the Thai yachting industry.
More recently, a yacht quarantine programme was announced, which allows foreign yacht vistitors, who arrive by yacht, to quarantine on their yacht after arriving in the country. According to Matthew na Nagara, chairman of the Thai Yachting Business Association, the procedure has helped. “The number of yacht arrivals is not as high as before the pandemic, but it helps these (yacht) businesses to get through these difficult times.”