Yachts, jewels and jets: Hong Kong’s luxury expo connects brands with new customers

Hong Kong’s first luxury expo is more than a showcase, offering international brands opportunities to find partners and develop business, the city’s financial chief has said, while exhibitors said bringing different sectors under one roof could help them reach new customers.

The inaugural Festival of Connoisseurs, organised by Informa Markets, is the first exhibition supported by the government’s HK$100 million (US$12.7 million) initiative to attract high-quality, large-scale international exhibitions to the city.

“A festival like this needs people who appreciate the exhibits, customers who want to buy them and an environment where business can flourish. Hong Kong brings all three together. That is our strength as a ‘superconnector’,” financial secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said.

“We will continue to strengthen Hong Kong as an international trading centre and a world-class exhibition hub, where craftspeople reach new audiences, brands find new customers and visitors discover something extraordinary.”

He highlighted Hong Kong’s free flow of capital, goods, talent and information, its low and simple tax regime, and low or zero duties on luxury products, alongside efficient customs clearance and extensive logistics connections.

The event, which runs from Wednesday to Friday at AsiaWorld-Expo, brings together nine high-end sectors: yachts; supercars and classic cars; gastronomy; art and design; travel; wellness; jewellery and watches; private jets; and property.

Patrick Martell, chief executive of Informa Markets, said the expo showcased Hong Kong as “a city where the world’s most discerning individuals” gathered “to experience, to collect and to belong”.

“Together [with the government], we are pursuing a shared ambition to build an event of genuine global synergy, one that cements Hong Kong’s position as Asia’s definitive destination of luxury,” he said.

Paul Grange, co-founder and chief operating officer of Marine Italia Asia, the exclusive distributor of Italy’s Azimut Yachts, said he was optimistic about the future of Hong Kong’s luxury industries and believed such fairs could support their growth.

“Hong Kong needs this kind of fair, and it needs to elevate the presentation of this kind of event. Typically, boat shows in Asia are smaller affairs. So this event, combined with other luxury industries and government support, is fantastic,” he said.

The company, which has operated in Hong Kong for 35 years, sells Italian-built yachts ranging from HK$7 million for an entry-level vessel to HK$254 million for a new 44-metre (144 feet) model launched earlier this year.

Grange said the company was taking part in the fair to raise brand awareness, adding that “it’s important to be seen to be part of Hong Kong’s movement towards promoting yachting”.

He said exhibiting alongside other luxury sectors could also bring in “new blood”.

“We are meeting new potential business partners for promotional and other events, and customers who might come to see sports cars and think, ‘Oh, I didn’t know anything about yachting’, and they are now exposed to our brand and vice versa,” he said.

Prakhar Lunia, owner of Faidee, a jeweller specialising in unheated Burmese rubies, brought one-of-a-kind rings, necklaces and bracelets to the expo, with prices ranging from HK$785,000 to HK$69 million.

Lunia said this was the brand’s first consumer-focused event. Its main goal was to raise awareness of the Thailand-based company, which has a boutique in Monaco and a showroom in Hong Kong.

He agreed that exhibiting alongside other luxury sectors could help expand the business.

“There are like-minded people who are collecting art, cars, watches and more; it’s all part of collection or alternative investments,” he said.

Tav Keen, who co-founded Regenesis with Serbian tennis superstar Novak Djokovic, brought a HK$1.3 million wellness pod designed to help users relax and recharge through sensory experiences combining light, sound, vibration and scent.

“We have clients that have bought it for themselves at home,” Keen said, recommending that people use it twice a day for up to half an hour. “But we also have clients such as hotels, luxury wellness spas, and airlines.”

The expo marks the Bali-based brand’s first venture into Hong Kong. Its pods are already in the US, the Caribbean, Spain, Montenegro, Serbia and the Middle East, and Keen said he saw significant potential in the broader Asia-Pacific wellness market.

Three-day tickets for the event were priced at HK$14,100 and day passes at HK$9,400.

Organisers have not disclosed how much funding they received from the government or the fair’s expected business or economic benefits.