How big is the booking volume occuring during the BOOT 2013 in Düsseldorf? We compared the pre-bookings for specific yacht charter destinations before and after the worlds biggest boat show.
The above bar chart reveals that the reservation volume that occured during the BOOT lay in between 4 and 7 % (orange). Generally it can be stated that the observed trend before continued also during the boat show. The two best pre-booked destinations Turkey and Croatia that begun the fair with more than 40 % pre-bookings gained another 6 to 6,8 % in between the 19/01/ and 27/01/2013, The destinations Greece and Italy that started with slightly more than 30 % pre-bookings only raised their reservation level around 4 - 5 % during the nine days of the show.
The maximum booking volume of nearly 7 % for Croatia within less than 2 weeks makes clear that the BOOT in Düsseldorf still marks a prime time for yacht charter reservations. The reasons are the same since many years: At the end of January many charter providers reduce or terminate their early-booking discounts. Charter agents can rely on bargaining an additional 5 % boat show discount to be able to offer their customers a better price.
Despite the observed differences in the pre-booking trends of the various charter destinations, it is quite some years ago that we felt such a confident outlook from our charter partner companies at this time of the year. However we should not forget that the yield is always made at the end of the season! There are still 60 % of bookings to be done. We are curious who gambled best this year, the providers that started with high early booking discounts or the ones that speculated to fill their booking plans during the next months when their competitor fleets are already booked out.