When we hear the term "yacht charter", we immediately get the impression that it is a luxury that only a select few can afford. But is it really so? Namely, the term "yacht" can be used to refer to almost all vessels longer than, for example, 10m or 30 feet. Whether this is right or not is debatable, but the fact is that for the uninformed, every larger vessel is a yacht.
There are many types and sizes of vessels available for charter today, and each of them has a certain price range. It is difficult to say right away how much it would cost to rent a vessel on average, but we can look at statistics that can provide us with some answers.
Boat rental prices
On the boat rental website Yacht-Rent.com we found interesting data on the average prices of boats for the season 2023. Based on the price list of almost 10,000 boats for rent, calculations were made of the movement of average prices, as well as occupancy by reservations. Thus, the rough statistical answer we got from that data to the question about the average price of renting a vessel would be: Croatia: €4,643 per vessel per week, Greece: €4,907 per vessel per week, Turkey: €5,111 per vessel per week, Italy: €5,121 per vessel per week.
However, upon closer observation, we notice that the mentioned average prices include cheaper, but also much more expensive vessels such as large luxury motor yachts, which significantly raise the average. Therefore, one might get the wrong impression about whether we can afford such a cruise.
Sailboat rental prices
In order to get a more realistic picture of the average rental prices from the statistics, we will try to focus on the segment of vessels that are normally the most numerous in the offer for rent and more affordable, namely sailboats. Let's be clear, the sailboat can be operated by a person who is not skilled with sails because the sailboat is powered by an engine and the use of sails is not necessary for cruising. The engine on a sailboat is not powerful and it cannot achieve the same speed as on motorboats and speedboats. But this is also one of the reasons that a sailboat is cheaper to purchase and rent than motorboats. Let's look at the trend of the price of sailboats this season on the graph 1.
When the values on the graph 1 curves are analyzed, the following average prices are reached in the table below. It turns out that on average it is cheapest to rent a sailboat in France, followed immediately by Croatia, while the most expensive are Turkey, Greece and Spain. Of course, statistical data should be viewed with caution and always take into account the number of samples processed. As can be seen from the table 1, the most realistic representation is in Croatia and Greece, which have the largest offer of sailboats at 2,298 and 1,484 vessels.
From the table 1, the calculation for the global average price of renting a sailboat, regardless of the destination, is derived, so we get that €3,182 per week should be paid for renting a sailboat. However, even this information does not give us a real picture of how much a cruise on a sailboat would cost us. Namely, the stated price refers to the entire vessel, and we know that sailboats come in various sizes. The smaller ones have fewer cabins, so they can accommodate fewer guests, while larger sailboats are slightly more expensive, but can accommodate a larger number of people. However, no one goes alone on a boat cruise, especially a sailboat, but a group of friends or family gets together. Therefore, a question arises that would give us a complete insight into whether we can afford to rent a cruise ship: "How much does it cost per person?" . Similar to how we would ask ourselves that question if we were going on vacation to a hotel or an apartment.
Sailboat rental prices per person
The graph 2 shows us the movement of sailboat rental prices, but not for the entire vessel, but per person. The values on the graph 2 were obtained by dividing the weekly price of the vessel by the maximum allowed number of persons on board the vessel.
The results on the graph 2 are a bit surprising, aren't they? We see that the average price in the peak season is €555 per person per week, while in the off-season it is only €272 per person per week. If we also look at the table 2 of average prices per person by destination, we can find the cheapest one that will make our cruise even more acceptable.
From the table 2, it follows that France and Croatia are the most profitable for renting sailboats, so for example, one night per person on a sailboat in Croatia costs €40-50 on average. According to today's prices, this seems like the price of a night per person in an apartment somewhere on the coast, and maybe even cheaper than that. Now, yacht charter doesn't look as expensive as it did at the beginning of this text, does it?
Of course, the prerequisite for enjoying a private cruise on a vessel rented just for you is that you are able to operate a vessel and that you have a license to operate a boat. If you are not already able to take the exam at a Port Authority and get that permit, you can hire a skipper who will manage the vessel while you just enjoy the cruise. The price of the skipper could raise the cost of your vacation on the boat, but that's why you won't have any worries about the boat, you'll literally - rest!
Neven Grubisic
A member of Alco Group
