Over 7,000 YACHT readers took part in the major 2023 market survey, providing insight into their experiences and habits when it comes to booking, cruising, choice of sailing area and much more. The results provide insights into developments in the industry, which are indeed showing some changes and trends. The survey is conducted every two years, and the results are a good way of recognising slow change.
With the Revieren stands GermanyThe Baltic Sea, in particular, is still in first place, but has lost ground, losing almost 9 percentage points. The long-term runner-up Croatiawhich has been the number one Mediterranean destination for many years, suffered a 5 per cent decline. Both destinations had naturally scored highly with car travel in 2021 due to coronavirus, so the declines show that charter customers are once again travelling to more destinations by air. It has now established itself as the second most popular Mediterranean destination Greece. The boom there has continued unabated for several years now. It was surprising that the The Netherlands and Denmark followed by two northern European regions. They are followed by Italy and Spain with just under 10 and 7 per cent respectively, while Turkey is still weakening at under 5 per cent, a trend that has been ongoing for a long time now. It is difficult to say whether this is still due to the political situation there, but the cruising grounds and fleets there are still attractive. France, in 10th place, is the weakest Mediterranean/Atlantic region, although agencies have been confirming this for many years. The Caribbean is also still struggling as a cruising area, although the numbers were low in 2021 due to coronavirus, the share continued to fall. However, prices there have also risen sharply.
Customers are very sensitive to costs
It is interesting to see which Costs customers spend on their charters. The Average is 3,427 euros per charter, which corresponds to an increase of 5.5 per cent in 2021. This is surprising given the sharp price increases in the charter market in 2022 and 2023, which in some cases were 10 to 15 per cent depending on the country and year. The bottom line is that crews have chartered either older or smaller ships. This means that customers are definitely price-sensitive and are not willing or able to go along with every price round of the fleet operators without doing anything.
Almost logical in relation to the costs is the trend that has persisted for many years of Charter duration The proportion of one-week charters has therefore increased slightly. Today, 55.7 per cent sail for one week, while only 31.6 per cent sail for a fortnight, with a slight downward trend.
And the cruise is organised by Booking time Almost 44 per cent of customers book at least four to six months before their cruise, and over 30 per cent even book seven months to a year in advance. In view of rising prices and constant charter costs, this makes sense, as it is a good way of Early booking discounts which can often amount to 10 to 20 per cent.
Online charters continue to gain ground
It also fits into the picture which Criteria for the choice of hunting ground are important. More than in 2021, namely 42.6 per cent of customers stated that the price of the charter determines the destination. In second place, somewhat surprisingly, almost 40 per cent of customers prefer to book with fleet operators they already know. Regular customers and also sailing areas continue to be a bank for companies. The condition of the yacht during the cruise only comes in third place. In fourth and fifth place are weather safety and the attractiveness of tourist attractions and destinations, which is surprising. Apparently, time on the water is the most important thing for many sailors.
Last but not least, an interesting insight into how customers get their Charter offer especially against the background of the spectacular Bankruptcy of the large online portal Zizoo last. 38 per cent of customers now only book online, and the trend is slowly but surely rising. In second place comes the direct line to the fleet operator. Obviously, Google searches for providers in certain areas are continuing to gain ground. Only in third place comes the route via a traditional agency.
