While travel restrictions made it hard to visit popular vacation spots on land, super yachting had an increase in popularity in the last year. On a boat, you can ease your mind of the pandemic. Continue reading below to learn more about superyachts becoming the vacation of choice.
Imagine floating around the Med in a luxury yacht surrounded by your close friends and family. There is no worry of being pinged by the NHS app, nor a chance that your holiday might be cut short due to changing travel restrictions. You definitely won’t need to quarantine either. You can avoid land altogether, and just forget about the pandemic completely. This is the world of the super-wealthy, who have spent £1 billion on large vessels this year alone, reflecting a surge in popularity born of a desire to escape the confinements of Covid.
During a period where international travel has been blighted with Covid-shaped roadblocks, there has arisen one unlikely victor – super-yachting. Exploring the world on a luxurious private boat has always been a popular choice for the super-wealthy, but the pandemic and a desire to escape lockdowns has seen an upshot in the number of people opting to travel this way.
“In times when it is so tricky to move around, a superyacht represents the safest way to spend time with your family,” experts say, which reported a record-breaking sales year in 2020. “Buying a yacht was a good thing to do, which we, of course, we always tried to tell everybody.”
According to data from Boat International, sales for superyachts (defined as longer than 24) increased 46 percent in the first quarter of 2021, compared to the same period the year before, and are expected to rise again in the latter part of this year. The industry reports a wider demand for larger vessels and a change in what facilities customers want from their boat. The Balearics, Croatia, Italy, Greece, and Norway are proving the most popular destinations for those making the investment.
“They want their yacht, and the design, to reflect how they live and be a home away from home,” experts say. “The trend that best represents the fact that owners are spending longer periods of time onboard is the request for larger office and office facilities onboard and a higher emphasis on the com systems installed to make sure that the internet connection is strong and always available.”
Superyachts offer autonomy and a guaranteed vacation, which – given the volatile travel restrictions – is ever appealing. As demand for superyachts rises, so have the prices as sellers decide to cling onto their purchases because of the benefits. Most shipyards have full order books with a large yacht under construction considered the “holy grail”. Experts say they simply offer “less risk for your precious vacation”.
“Buyers want to guarantee their vacation time as much as possible,” experts tell us. “Your yacht and crew can move to places you can travel to – it takes them time and organization and likely periods of quarantine for them, but it can be done, whereas property on land is rather more problematic if the country is locked down. Being onboard a yacht makes distancing simple and is an environment that you can control more easily than anywhere else.”
Original article posted on harpersbazaar.com