State of the Yacht Charter Market in 2025

This year’s post-season analysis reveals a market that’s resilient—but undeniably transforming. From fleet consolidation to the rise of non-traditional destinations, here is your deep dive into the realities, challenges, and opportunities shaping the global charter landscape.

Despite macroeconomic pressures and cautious consumer sentiment, the charter industry continues to demonstrate resilience. While new-boat sales stumbled in 2024–2025, Beneteau reported a 43% drop in Q1 revenue, and Catana faced a significant contraction in orders, charter demand stabilized and, in several markets, strengthened.

Short-duration rentals (3–4 days) surged, replacing traditional Saturday-to-Saturday weeks, and skippered charters continued their upward trend. Globesailor reports that skippered bookings now represent more than 21% of all departures, highlighting a broader shift: charter clients are prioritizing ease, service, and tailored experiences rather than self-sufficiency.

Across the Mediterranean, consolidation is reshaping fleet ownership.

Booking Manager data shows:

• Greece: 36% of the market is controlled by fleets with 50+ yachts
• Croatia: 25% of companies now operate between 50 and 100 boats
• Italy: Two players dominate the national market, with only one mid-sized company (50–100 boats)
• Spain: very limited market consolidation with 90% of the fleet controlled by companies with less than 20 baots.

Growing operational costs, inflation-driven maintenance expenses, and digital distribution pressure smaller operators—pushing the industry toward larger, professionally run fleets with stronger cash flow and centralised operations. The era of the “two-boat family operator” is fading.

The catamaran boom continues, but with important nuances.

Catamarans remain central to the fleet strategies of most destinations like Croatia, Greece and Turkey. They represent 26% of the global fleet worldwide and they represent 30% of all booked weeks overal. Despite their popularity, especially among families and luxury travelers, catamarans are not proportionally outperforming monohulls. Higher prices and rising marina fees are beginning to cap demand in lower-budget segments.

For the first time in several years, in peak season the occupancy of monohulls was higher than of catamarans.

Once again, the Bavaria Cruiser 46 is the most popular monohull of 2025 keeping his position as market leader followed by Oceanis 46.1 and Oceanis 51.1. On the Catamaran side the Lagoon 42 has the the highest number of booked weeks followed by the Lagoon 46.

Digital charter platforms are continuing to gain traction, particularly in the bareboat and entry-to-mid-range crewed segments. Charterers increasingly value on-demand availability, instant pricing and AI-driven recommendations that simplify decision-making and shorten booking cycles. These tools are especially appealing to experienced sailors and repeat customers who prioritize efficiency and flexibility.

However, traditional brokers remain firmly entrenched in the high-end and complex charter segments or in more traditional segments of the charter where the trust relationship built between the agent and the client is still central.
For luxury clients, personal relationships, bespoke itinerary planning, deep destination expertise, and the ability to manage intricate vessel and crew requirements remain essential. Rather than a full-scale replacement, the market is clearly bifurcating: digital platforms are driving volume and accessibility, while brokers continue to generate value, trust, and premium experiences—each thriving in its own domain.

High-end clients remain active but selective.
Volume-driven charters, particularly in Greece and Croatia, continue to perform well, but price sensitivity is rising. Meanwhile, the global charter fleet surpassed 2,250 yachts over 20 meters, creating more supply than ever before. Competition for premium weeks is intensifying, pushing some owners to reduce minimum charter durations from 10–14 days to one week to maintain utilization.

The 2025 charter season opened with strong momentum but began to lose pace toward the end of Q1, a pattern consistently observed across fleet operators and digital booking platforms. Beneath this slowdown, however, lies a meaningful shift in charterer behavior. Early-booking windows are tightening as travelers delay commitment, while last-minute bookings,particularly for premium and well-positioned yachts, are becoming more frequent. At the same time, the traditional July–August peak is gradually flattening, with growing demand spilling into May–June and September–October. This reflects a broader change in travel decision-making, driven by economic uncertainty, geopolitical considerations, and increasingly flexible planning habits. For the industry, forecasting demand is becoming more complex, but also more opportunity-rich for those able to adapt pricing, availability, and marketing strategies in real time.

Despite a solid recovery in booking volumes, the average spending basket is showing clear signs of softening. Across the Mediterranean, charter spend is now stabilizing closer to the €5,500 range, down from the €6,000+ levels seen in recent seasons. At the same time, performance disparities between operators are becoming more pronounced. Charter companies with strong service reputations continue to achieve healthier occupancy rates, demonstrating that quality and reliability remain decisive factors even as budgets tighten.

As the yacht-charter industry moves into 2025, it does so with renewed resilience and a clearer sense of direction. The market is being reshaped by ongoing fleet consolidation, a continued shift toward service-driven and experience-led charters, and sustained demand in the East Mediterranean, while long-haul destinations and shoulder-season travel gain momentum. At the same time, booking patterns are flattening the traditional peak season, digital platforms are accelerating access and transparency, and charterers’ expectations are evolving faster than ever. Together, these forces point to a sector that is not contracting, but recalibrating. For operators, brokers, and investors alike, the takeaway is unambiguous: future success will be defined less by sheer scale and more by adaptability, by the ability to align fleets, pricing, technology, and service models with a market that values flexibility, expertise, and differentiated experiences.