Broker Report: Greece
href="http://www.njcharters.com" target="_blank">Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters website
Charter broker Missy Johnston of Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters recently returned from the 2010 charter yacht show in Poros, Greece. Following are her insights and observations about the state of the Greek charter market, the best yachts available, and more.
At the Genoa charter show in Italy this month, there was confusion among international brokers about how much tax the Greek government now says must be collected for charters in Greece. Did you get any clarification in Poros?
The VAT will be 5 percent this summer, and it will be retroactive to any charters that have already been booked for upcoming dates.
It used to be 4.5 percent, so the increase is only 0.5 percent. That’s good news out of the bad economic situation in Greece, because it’s not a massive amount of money on most charter contracts. On some boats, the charterer will pay the difference. For others, the yacht’s owner will.
Going forward, it will be 5 percent VAT for all new bookings. That’s what I’m being required to collect by the Greek companies right now.
Did you see evidence of Greece’s current economic problems in the charter yachts that were on display?
I did not. The basic view is that the economic situation is primarily affecting people in the lower economic strata. The situation seems to be that Greece has more expenses than it has taxes. The wealthy people are not being taxed significantly, and those are the yacht owners.
Having said that, I did see more yachts being offered for charter than in years past. From what I understand, that is because of a change of situation in taxation. Private yacht owners are now going to be taxed 10 percent on yacht ownership, so certain owners, to avoid that new tax, are saying their boats are in charter, which also allows them to get duty-free fuel.
So there were a lot of boats at the show that are new to charter, and it will be interesting to see whether they truly are available for a full charter program. I’m told that the authorities are going to be checking yachts this summer to see whether they are truly in charter or not.
Among the yachts you know to be fully involved in chartering, did any stand out at the show?
I loved the 129-foot motoryacht Happy Dolphin II, the 100-foot Falcon motoryacht Ouranos, the 132-foot Codecasa motoryacht Ouranos Too, the 103-foot motoryacht Sun Coco, the 86-foot Canados motoryacht Anassa, and the 114-foot Falcon motoryacht Helios. All across the board, actually, there were some excellent choices among the yachts that are truly in charter and trying to put together a professional charter program. But that handful stood out to me, in particular, because of the quality of the crew.
In general in Greece, the crew situation is becoming even more similar to the international fleet, where there are generally women as stewardesses for cleaning and service on almost every yacht. Before, it was always all men. And the crew in general are younger. In Greece, there were always crew coming off cruise ships with skills and attitudes formed in that industry. Now, crew seem to be coming into the yachting industry first and learning the standards from the start. There’s very little smoking to be seen, which is also a change from years past in Greece, and everything is starting to look more like charter in France and Italy, as opposed to being yachts that are outfitted in cruise ship style.
I’ve done a few charters in Greece, and though I enjoy the area, I must agree that the crew never quite interacted with me the way crew do in other parts of the world.
One thing I noted this year is that the crew are being encouraged to participate more with the charterers. They’re not just driving the boat anymore. They’re maybe also organizing a fireworks display, or arranging special tours—they’re extending beyond their duty of driving the boat or cleaning or serving.
For instance, the captain on Anassa said they like to go to a beach, make a wood fire, and cook dinner. He goes diving for sea urchins and brings them up for hors d’oeuvres. It’s really great. It’s something you would get on a charter yacht in a place like the Caribbean.
Did you notice that change in attitude aboard other boats, too?
Everything just seemed to sparkle a little more than usual, yes.
When we went on Ouranos for lunch, as an example, the tablecloth was a lovely cloth instead of a shiny, polyester tablecloth. The items on the table looked like they came out of St. Tropez. There were natural seashells around. The first course was a hot soup, and the two stewardesses appeared with two large, modern, lovely silver bowls with ladles, and simultaneously served the table. Even two or three years ago, you wouldn’t find that level of quality in Greece.
How about the overall market in terms of pricing? Are things still slow because of the global recession?
Greece does still have more flexibility in pricing than charter yachts in the Western Mediterranean. You can negotiate. The market is still soft. There’s still availability for this summer, even on the best boats.
Is there anything else that potential charter clients should know about the current state of the Greek market?
You can go scuba diving in Greece now. That’s a big change. You do need to be certified, and if there’s not a dive master or instructor onboard we can help you arrange a rendezvous dive, but previously, you could only dive in government parks. Now, you can dive right off the boat.
Taking antiquities from the seafloor is of course a major offense, but you can at least go in the water and look around. It’s not diving to see coral or fish, but there are massive amounts of ancient wrecks that have been protected. They create very interesting diving experiences, right from your charter yacht.
For more information about chartering yachts in Greece, or anywhere else worldwide, contact Missy Johnston through the Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters website.
Editor’s Note: Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters is a sponsor of CharterWave, where this blog originates.
