A cultural tourism company operating boat trips on a celebrated Yangzhou lake is making a second attempt to list its shares on the Hong Kong stock market
image credit: Bamboo Works
Embarking from a scenic lake and ancient canal network in eastern China, a boat trip business is inviting investors on board for a journey to the Hong Kong stock market.
Famed for its picturesque weeping willows, the winding waterway in Yangzhou is a popular destination for cultural tourism, framed by bridges, temples and pavilions built by wealthy merchants during the 18th century.
The name of the tourist spot – Slender West Lake – is also on the masthead of the waterborne leisure company that now wants to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, seeking funds to expand its fleet and services.
At the helm of Jiangsu Slender West Lake Culture and Tourism Co. Ltd. is an entrepreneur, Xu Sunmei, who started out as a tourist guide in the area before building her company into a business consistently turning over more than 100 million yuan a year ($15 million).
In that time she made a splash by forming a female crew who rowed across the waters in traditional Yuloh boats, using body-propelled sculling oars. Her current challenge is to steer the company safely to the Hong Kong market.
This is not the firm's first attempt to dock in the equity market. It first listed on Beijing's National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) in 2017, and filed an unsuccessful Hong Kong application last September, before making its second attempt this year.
Starting out as a junior tour guide, Xu worked her way up to general manager in 2011 and was later promoted to the role of chairman, presiding over a fleet of more than 200 vessels.
The location of the business features in a famous poem written by Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty, which describes a poignant parting with a friend, sailing away towards Yangzhou. Today, boat tours on Slender West Lake are a popular choice for visitors as China heavily promotes its domestic tourism and cultural heritage, as part of a bid to boost domestic consumption.
The area's waterborne tourism services were historically fragmented, but from 2006 operations began to be consolidated and developed. Tours focusing on imperial sites were introduced, along with a nighttime canal trip, and the famous female-crewed boats proved to be a big draw.
The company trained a bevy of young boatwomen in 2009 to manually propel double-oared Yulohs around the lake for tourists, while providing commentary and singing local folk songs along the way.
Slender West Lake C&T's fleet now numbers 221 vessels, including 36 Yuloh boats, 121 self-drive boats and 64 themed boats. During peak tourism periods, the fleet can carry up to 35,000 passengers a day, according to company data. Based on boat ticket sales, the company ranked second in Jiangsu Province for waterborne tourism services in 2024.
Revenues have exceeded 100 million yuan for the last three years, amounting to 109 million yuan in 2023, 111 million yuan the following year, and rising to 141 million yuan in 2025. Over the same timeframe, profits came in at 46.43 million yuan, 42.88 million yuan and 51.99 million yuan.
It is certainly a business with high returns. Last year, the gross profit margin for waterborne boat tours was 57%, while the margin for sightseeing vehicles reached 76.6%. The overall gross profit margin stood at 58.2%.
However,Slender West Lake C&T has limited scope to expand beyond its geographic base on the Yangzhou waterway, and the boat tourism market there is already highly developed, making it hard to boost revenues further.
The firm relies heavily on waterborne tourism for the bulk of its income. Sightseeing boat services account for 80% of revenue, with bus tours adding another 10%, while management services contribute less than 5%. Once listed, the company will face a critical challenge to find ways to generate additional income streams.
According to research by Frost & Sullivan, revenue from China's water-based tourism services is projected to grow from 10.2 billion yuan in 2024 to 18.8 billion yuan by 2029, representing a steady but not particularly rapid compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 13%.
Moreover, competition in the sector is fierce. Slender West Lake C&T ranked only 10th in China's water tourism market in 2024, holding a mere 1% share.
If it targets other mainland cities, the firm's competitive strength is hard to evaluate. This uncertainty stems from the fact that Slender West Lake C&T is ultimately owned by a subsidiary of the Yangzhou municipal authorities, giving it an exclusive right to operate sightseeing tours on its namesake lake. Whether it can scale up beyond its home base in Yangzhou remains an open question.
In fact, the scenery of Yangzhou is not widely recognized outside of China, falling far short of the fame enjoyed by Hangzhou's West Lake, which would be the first choice for international tourists seeking to explore a celebrated waterscape. The Slender West Lake boat trip business has acknowledged that most of its customers come from within China.
Among listed companies primarily focused on cultural tourism, Impression Dahongpao (2695.HK), which listed last year, offers a relevant comparison, being similarly reliant on a single attraction and a distinct type of tourism. Since its IPO last year, the company's share price has halved, leaving its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio currently below 6 times.
Using this as a reference, Slender West Lake C&T's potential market value would be around 700 million yuan. Given this modest scale and the business outlook, the appeal of the boat trip business to investors may be moderate.
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Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.
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