Testing the waters - trends and stats emerging from the 2016 boat rental market!

Leading yacht charter provider in Europe, the GlobeSailor, has recently released some key figures concerning the boat rental market, to inform industry professionals, boat builders and renters on the main trends of the past year.

NB: These figures are taken from bookings handled by GlobeSailor’s agent to illustrate market trends and cannot be held liable if used in any other context. These statistics are taken from a panel of 30,000 European customers who rented a boat in 2016 through one of GlobeSailor’s 800 rental partners, in over 150 destinations.

France, Croatia, Italy: The most popular destinations among sailors

 Across all our clients, the Mediterranean coast remains the most sought after. France, Italy, Croatia, Greece and Spain compete for podium positions as the top destinations. France (including Corsica) takes the top spot with 24% of bookings, followed by Croatia (22%) which is steadily growing, then Italy with 16%. The former two destinations have undoubtedly benefited from the slump in bookings in Turkey (a drop of 70%) and also in Greece which only made up 10% of bookings this year compared to 13% in 2015. We hope that the social and political condition in these two countries will stabilize and allow their tourism industry to recover.

The Lagoon brand continues to dominates the market

Between sailing monohulls and catamarans, statistics show that boaters prefer sailing monohulls, which make up 66% of bookings compared to only 24% for sailing catamarans. This would lead you to think that the most popular boat type is a monohull, but in fact it is the Lagoon catamarans which are out in front. The most popular boat model in 2016 was the Lagoon 450 which alone accounted for 4% of bookings (double the figure seen in 2015). The Lagoon 450, 440 and 380 make up 7% of reservations. Even though the economic situation is still difficult, sailors won’t deny themselves comfort or safety (2 elements on which Lagoon pride themselves) and it is performance which becomes a secondary concern. It is noticeable that catamaran rental figures are strengthening year on year and despite the tough economic conditions in the travel industry sailors still want the most expensive and top end boats! Unités??

Yacht Charter with skipper: a trend which is opening up the market

Due to chartered boats becoming more and more spacious, the number of rentals with a skipper has risen from 16% in 2015 to 20% in 2016! This makes it even more important that bases can offer qualified, competent and friendly skippers. 75% of clients who sailed with a skipper said that it was the high quality service of the skipper and how well he got on with the other sailors, which made their cruise so successful. The client base is therefore evolving towards more inexperienced sailors, who wish to discover a new way of travelling, whilst learning the basics of sailing.

Clients don’t necessarily demand the latest technology on board, but a boat which is clean, comfortable and well built.

On the rise – high end boats, and rental prices!

At closer look, it is clear that rental boats are becoming bigger and more and more spacious, however unlike the past few years during which prices fell, this year, for the same boat model you will pay more for a week’s charter! This increase in price is especially evident for boats over 40 feet. Here are a few examples to illustrate this trend:

This increase in price is a very good indication of an upturn in the market, of the growing attraction of sailing and nautical activities, and of the improved financial status of businesses who are gradually recovering their margins, enabling them to grow and innovate.

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