The interior of the Fortuna, a luxury yacht. It made its maiden voyage on May 18 in Qingdao, Shandong province. Xu Chongde / for China Daily

Figures from the institute also show that the compound annual growth rate of China's yacht market was 732 percent from 2006 to 2011, while the growth rate of other luxury items fluctuated.

"The soaring rise means that the consumption patterns of Chinese wealthy people have seen an upgrade and both the luxury vehicle and yacht sectors will become their targets," said Zhou Ting, director of the institute.

But Chinese multimillionaires, who are about 1.4 million and spend 1.56 million yuan every year on average, are still at an initial stage when it comes to their understanding of yachts, Zhou said.

Luxury yachts will become an important lifestyle choice for Chinese wealthy people, she added, as 51 percent of the respondents said they will purchase a private luxury yacht, according to the institute's report.

However, the middle class rather than the wealthy are expected to become the main consumers of yachts in the future, business insiders said.

"Luxury yachts led the industry at the beginning, but small and medium-sized boats will become the bulk of the yacht economy," said Zheng at the CCYIA.

Based on the experience from the international market, small fishing yachts and sailing boats priced between 300,000 and 800,000 yuan will become the most popular boats, he said.

"In the next five years, the market for these two kinds of yachts will see a good development," he added.

In Zheng's opinion, middle-class families, who will be able to afford the two types of small yachts, will support the growth of the market.

And for people who can't afford to spend hundreds of thousands of yuan on leisure boats, yacht rental companies will be a good option, Zheng said.

Foreign players

Foreign yacht manufacturers are also expecting a boom and they're already eyeing the Chinese market.

For instance, the Hong Kong-based Jebsen Marine plans to set up eight dealerships in Beijing and other coastal mainland cities over the next two to three years, in a bid to meet the rapidly increasing demand for luxury boats.

And other companies are also vying for the Chinese market.

"China now takes the No 1 position in our global strategy, as the emerging markets led by China are offsetting our waning business in mature European markets, which were seriously impacted by the economic slowdown," said Bjorn Ingemanson, president of Volvo Penta, Europe's largest industrial and marine power systems provider.

Volvo Penta invested 500 million yuan in the Chinese market in the past three years, and the rising leisure boat market in China will be the company's major growth engine over the next years, he said.

"China is somehow like an early teenager in the yacht industry, eager to learn and growing fast," he said.

In 2012, Volvo Penta sold around 5,000 marine engines in China, a 15 to 20 percent year-on-year growth.

The yacht engine builder is now targeting 15 percent annual growth in the coming years, Ingemanson said, though the business in China is still relatively modest compared with those in Western markets.

"We will see a sharp growth trend there," he added.

He said that his confidence comes not only from the rising local market, but also from the fact that more European-made boats are being imported into China.

Data from the CCYIA showed that the number of boats imported to China increased 63.27 percent year-on-year in 2012.

The United Kingdom and Italy are the two main exporters, industry insiders said.

"International yacht manufacturers have a very bright outlook in the Chinese market, as their sales in China are increasing sharply," said Zheng at the CCYIA.