Hong Kong must remove bottlenecks to grow yacht economy, industry leaders say

Hong Kong should urgently address its bottlenecks in developing a yacht economy by improving immigration procedures, upgrading mooring facilities and curating niche tourism itineraries following Beijing’s policy relaxation on yachts from the city sailing to mainland China, industry leaders have said.Their calls came on Saturday after Beijing allowed Hong Kong and Macau yachts to enter designated ports in the Greater Bay Area “exempt from guarantees” and benefit from “a temporary ship nationality registration policy” with immediate effect.Under Hong Kong’s current regime, visiting yachts are not required to go through designated ports for clearance and examination, but a representative has to present travel documents at the government’s pier in Central within 24 hours after entering and before leaving local waters.