The good news, especially for the Caribbean, is that 77 percent of customers who had yacht charters booked for 2020 said they will move forward or are taking a wait-and-see approach.
Leading superyacht brokerage Northrop & Johnson recently completed a survey of its ultra-affluent clients (superyacht owners and charter customers), seeking their insights on yachting and other luxury interests, including how COVID-19 is impacting their plans, behavior and lifestyle for the foreseeable future.
“The Caribbean’s ranking as the top destination for future yachting vacations indicates two things,” says Daniel Ziriakus, the Fort Lauderdale, FL-based company’s president and chief operating officer. “First, yacht customers in the U.S. are planning to charter closer to home for the near term, and secondly, there is a significant opportunity to attract these high-value travelers to the various islands of the Caribbean. The region can capitalize on this and reach these potential customers by having an infrastructure in place to support this business. Destinations can and should collaborate and develop close partnerships with the yachting industry to access this very niche and exclusive group of customers.”
Results of the Northrop & Johnson survey indicate that ultra-high-net-worth travelers charter yachts anywhere from 50 to 200 feet in size, and that the average length of a charter is 8 days. The good news for hotels, resorts and villas in the region is that about half of the time, yachters combine land-based stays with their vacations at sea. Destinations, including tourism boards and hoteliers, says Ziriakus, can capitalize on this by ensuring they have various luxury offerings to meet the needs of this very discerning clientele.” www.northropandjohnson.com
