Greek Charters–In Dollars, Not Euro
Absolute Yachting, which is based in the popular Greek charter grounds, is the first yacht management company I’ve seen to take a wide swipe at the dollar-euro exchange rate that is preventing so many Americans from booking charters in the Mediterranean this summer. The company sent out a promotional e-mail this weekend stating that for 2009, a half-dozen charter yachts in its fleet will be offering price quotes for next summer at $1 to 1 euro–no matter what the actual exchange rate is.
That’s a lotta cheddar, as my hip young nephews would say. As of this morning, $1 equaled just 0.63 euro.
All the yachts making this 1-to-1 dollar-euro offer are sailboats: the 52-foot Mystique, the 52-foot Infinity, the 56-foot Mythos I, the 56-foot Mythos II, the 65-foot Aegeo, and the 65-foot Star. Each takes at least eight guests at weekly base rates from 4,100 euro to 15,500 euro (or dollars, apparently).
Absolute Yachting didn’t offer any reason for this generous offer, but the obvious situation is that there is a disturbing lack of U.S. charter clients onboard yachts this size in Greece this summer. I’ve heard from multiple reputable charter brokers that many of the yachts in Greece are sitting idle at the dock, especially in this smaller size range (50 to 65 feet). The American clients who typically book these yachts are far more likely to be feeling the current economic squeeze than clients who charter larger yachts in Greece and beyond. Thus, offering this price incentive may be the only way to get U.S. clients back into Greek charter waters.
It will be interesting to see whether this offer to eliminate the exchange rate imbalance leads to increased bookings for these yachts. And if it does, we’ll then be staying tuned to see if other charter yacht management companies follow suit.