Professional Yacht Sector Watches Bookings Sink

President of the Hellenic Professional Yacht Owners Association Antonis Steliatos.

The professional yacht sector is experiencing perhaps its worst year as bookings for professional yachts with crew have dropped more than 80 percent this year compared to 2009, Antonis Steliatos, president of the Hellenic Professional Yacht Owners Association, said.

“At the same time 11 vessels are out of commission as this year’s demand does not match the offer,” Mr. Steliatos told the Greek press.

He added that reservations for sail ships are also down with revenues dropping sharply this year.

According to the association, Greece has a very small amount of marinas and many cannot compete on the market.

The association’s president under­lined that although Greece has nearly 5,000 islands and islets, and thousands of kilometers of coastline, Croatia has 108 modern marinas and Turkey boasts a far much better network of marinas than Greece.

According to figures from the Greek National Tourism Organization, Greece currently has 19 organized marinas and another 12 under construction. Their capacity amounts to 6,661 berths.