الرئيسية
For the GCC’s super-rich residents that are bored with their 150-ft
yachts, private jets and luxury speedboats, now there's another toy on
offer – a personal submarine.
Dutch company U-Boat Worx is
targeting the region’s wealthiest residents with its range of private
submarines, with prices starting from US$951,371 per craft.
The
vessels can dive to a depth of up to 100m, with larger crafts able to
seat up to three people under a transparent pressure hull. Dives can
last for up to six hours, the company said, bringing passengers within
inches of sea life and coral reefs.
UBW has seen so much interest
in its submarines, that it’s scouting for a local partner to capitalise
on the region’s potential, said sales and marketing manager Charlotte
Schroots.
“We get enquiries from across the Middle East,
including Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” she said.
Clients include “private customers with super yachts or luxury hotel
resorts.”
Defying the credit crunch, the Middle East’s rich have
got richer with only the UAE notching up a decline in its wealthy
population, Merrill Lynch’s World Wealth Report 2011 said in June.
The
number of dollar millionaires in the region swelled by 10.4 percent in
2010, reflecting the fastest growth rate worldwide, to represent 400,000
people sitting on a cash pile of $1.7
yachts, private jets and luxury speedboats, now there's another toy on
offer – a personal submarine.
Dutch company U-Boat Worx is
targeting the region’s wealthiest residents with its range of private
submarines, with prices starting from US$951,371 per craft.
The
vessels can dive to a depth of up to 100m, with larger crafts able to
seat up to three people under a transparent pressure hull. Dives can
last for up to six hours, the company said, bringing passengers within
inches of sea life and coral reefs.
UBW has seen so much interest
in its submarines, that it’s scouting for a local partner to capitalise
on the region’s potential, said sales and marketing manager Charlotte
Schroots.
“We get enquiries from across the Middle East,
including Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” she said.
Clients include “private customers with super yachts or luxury hotel
resorts.”
Defying the credit crunch, the Middle East’s rich have
got richer with only the UAE notching up a decline in its wealthy
population, Merrill Lynch’s World Wealth Report 2011 said in June.
The
number of dollar millionaires in the region swelled by 10.4 percent in
2010, reflecting the fastest growth rate worldwide, to represent 400,000
people sitting on a cash pile of $1.7