International Boat Industry – June-July 2019

42 JUNE–JULY 2019 | International Boat Industry ibinews.com

Markets & Regions

OVERVIEW | SOUTH KOREA

 Despite attendence being slightly down, exhibitors were generally happy with KIBS 2019

Maturing market gaining appeal

SOUTH KOREA HAS MATURED OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS INTO A MIDDLE-CLASS

BOATING MARKET WITH AN EMPHASIS ON SMALL BOATS AND SEA FISHING

A

good barometer for the Korean

market is the annual Korea

International Boat Show (KIBS),

which this year staged its 12th edition in

May. While exhibitor and visitor numbers

were slightly down this year, exhibitors

were generally happy with the number

of serious enquiries which showed the

market bucking a slowing economy and

reduced boat sales over the past year.

INDUSTRIAL POWERHOUSE

After emerging from the 1950-53 war with

North Korea, South Korea has emerged

as a remarkable economic success story,

becoming a developed, globally connected,

and highly technological society. In the

1960s, GDP per capita was comparable

with levels in the poorest countries in

the world. Currently South Korea has a

GDP per capita of US$39,500 based on a

purchasing power parity basis enabling the

growth of a substantial middle class among

the population of 51 million. In tandem,

discretionary consumer spending has risen,

fuelling the growth of leisure activities

including leisure boating.

The economy unexpectedly shrank

in the first quarter of 2019, marking

its worst performance since the global

financial crisis in 2008 as government

spending failed to keep up the previous

quarter’s strong pace and companies

slashed investment spending. Economic

forecasts indicate that South Korea will

contend with gradually slowing economic

growth in the 2-3% range – not uncommon

for advanced economies. This could

be partially offset by efforts to address

challenges arising from its rapidly ageing

population, inflexible labour market,

continued dominance of the Chaebols

(family-owned industrial groups), and

heavy reliance on exports rather than

 Local boatbuilders turned out in force

WORDS: MIKE DERRETT

domestic consumption. Despite this,

Koreans are a very close-knit nation;

loyalty to the country and the company is

strong. A good example of this is driving on

Korean roads, where it’s evident that some

95% of the cars are Korean brands.

BOATING MARKET

The overall reduction in tension between

North and South Korea over recent years

has meant that much of the coastline in the

South is now available for boating. Rules

and regulations for the use of a leisure boat

are also very transparent, which has given a

green light for the development of boating.

This is in distinct contrast to some other

Asian countries such as China, where the

development of boating is held back by

outdated rules and regulations geared to

commercial shipping and concerns about

security issues.

Boat Korea, the largest boat dealer in