Lawrence Chow attended the ICOMIA Congress in Split, Croatia as the Hong Kong BIA representative. The Congress proved to be an effective forum for discussions and updates on the global marine industry and Hong Kong is now an active participant along with the China Cruise & Yacht Industry Association (CCYIA.

In general, there was a common thread through the discussions, which focused on the growth of the charter and boat sharing sectors along with how spending habits have begun to shift. The congress started off with representatives of the Croatian Government and ICOMIA committee members sharing updates and reinforcing the importance of the marine industry to the local economy. Over the course of the week the various Committee Meetings include:

Grow Boating Committee:  The forum covered topics such as nurturing boating as a lifestyle rather than just selling a product, and transformation of the market and the need to engage with Millennials. General statistics of boat purchases were presented, along with programmes that different countries have initiated in order to engage with the public to Grow Boating in their region.

Exporters Committee: Focused on exporting and importing marine products from Croatia and gave key statics, such as the business of chartering in Croatia accounts for 40% of the global charter fleet. Major companies involved in the boating industry were reviewed along with a large number of rib manufactures. The effects of the US-China Trade War and Brexit were also discussed.

Technical Committee: Topics included yacht charter policies in Turkey and the new Regulatory Reference Guide (RRG) that will be available through the ICOMIA website.

Marinas Subcommittee: This was an overview of markets and marinas, with CCYIA and CBITA (China) reporting there are now 114 marinas in China. ICOMIA is joining the World Tourism Organisation in order to grow nautical tourism and the group looked at changes in the charter industry from B2C to C2C. The next World Marinas Conference will be at P&O Marinas in Dubai.

Superyacht Committee: Identified the need to get accurate figures on number of Superyachts and discussions included NOx limits and MARPOL V which gives guidelines on prevention of pollution by garbage from ships.

Statistics Committee: The updated statistics book will include global turnover figures and ICOMIA will partner with Powerstats.

Environment Committee: Looked at developing a paper for best environmental practice and developing a position paper on end of service for lifeboats and identifying the scale of the problem. They also looked at gathering information from MIA’s on how to deal with/minimize risk on extreme weather and produce position papers on invasive species, solutions/alternatives for teak and banned chemicals.

Next congress:  19-22 May 2020, Zhuhai, China

ICOMIA has recommended that Hong Kong host the International Marinas Group (IMG) Conference in conjunction with a marina tour, before the ICOMIA Congress in Zhuhai next year.

“The IMG marina tour in Croatia 2019 was organized exceptionally well, involving the ministry of commerce, ministry of the sea, and the ministry of tourism for Croatia. ICOMIA members helped convey the importance and impact of the industry to tourism and the local economy. Both the government officials and ICOMIA members had shared what they were going to discuss prior to the talk. It helped having an international body share the importance of the industry across the globe. It is hoped that Hong Kong can provide a similar marina tour in the GBA and invite the government to be involved with the conference.

Future ICOMIA Congresses will be held in Sweden 2021, Toronto 2022, and Turkey 2023.

Lawrence Chow為本會代表出席了在克羅地亞斯普利特舉行的ICOMIA大會。參與大會得益良多, 見證大會是全球海事業討論和更新的有效論壇. HKBIA與中國郵輪與遊艇行業協會（CCYIA）積極參與。

總體來說，討論中有一個共同點，就是遊艇租賃和遊艇共享板塊的增長以及其消費習慣已開始轉變。大會開始時，克羅地亞政府代表和ICOMIA委員會成員分享最新情況，並加強海洋產業對當地經濟的重要性。在一週的過程中，ICOMIA委員會的各種會議包括：

遊艇增長委員會：

論壇涵蓋的主題包括培養遊艇消閒, 不僅僅是銷售產品, 更可作為一種休閒生活模式，市場轉形以及與千禧一代互動的必要性。我們認識了遊艇買賣的一般統計數據，及與不同國家與公眾一起參與之當地遊艇消閒活動的拓展計劃。

出口商委員會：

從克羅地亞出口和進口海洋產品為主點，大會提供關鍵數據，例如克羅地亞的遊艇租賃業務佔全球40％。參與遊艇行業的主要公司與龐大配件製造商一起進行研論。並討論美中貿易戰和英國脫歐的影響。

技術委員會：

主題包括土耳其的遊艇租賃政策和新的監管參考指南（RRG），將上載於ICOMIA網站。

Marinas小組委員會：

這是對市場和遊艇會的概述. CCYIA和CBITA（中國）報告中說，中國目前有114個遊艇會。 ICOMIA正在加入世界旅遊組織以發展航海旅遊業，該組織研究租賃行業從B2C到C2C的變化。下一屆世界遊艇會大會將在迪拜的P＆O Marinas舉行。

超級遊艇委員會：

建立和討論需要超級遊艇數量的準確數字. 討論包括氮氧化物限制和MARPOL V，其中提供了防止船舶垃圾污染的引。

統計委員會：

更新統計書將包括全球營業額數據，ICOMIA將與Powerstats全面合作。