More Americans are chartering luxury yachts as the number of millionaires in the US rises

Superyacht bookings increased this summer, with a growing client base among Americans.
As Russian travelers face restrictions due to the war in Ukraine, Americans are filling the void.
The number of households with net worths in the millions is climbing in the US.

As US household wealth grows, so does the American client base for superyachts.

Stacy Fischer-Rosenthal, president of Fischer Travel Enterprises, told Bloomberg that her company saw a 20% increase in bookings for superyachts this summer. The demand for superyachts was already high in 2021.

Among those chartering yachts are a growing number of Americans, who, in turn, are filling the void left by wealthy Russian travelers facing travel restrictions due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Fraser Yachts, a Monaco-based company that sells, charters, and manages superyachts, saw a 32% increase in bookings compared with a year ago, Mark Duncan, director of marketing and business development at Fraser Yachts, told Bloomberg. Most of that growth, he told Bloomberg, is from Americans who are mostly first-time renters.

It's an effect from climbing American wealth. According to data from consulting and market-research fim Spectrem Group, US households with a net worth between $1 million and $5 million grew from 11.6 million in 2020, to 12.55 million in 2021.

The number of American households with more than $25 million in net worth grew 17.8 percent, from 214,000 in 2020, to 252,000 in 2021.

Fischer-Rosenthal told Bloomberg most of her company's clients "are high-net worth individuals, running banks and hedge funds." Members of Fischer Travel Enterprises have to pay over $100,000 to be invited to join the agency as clients.

"Yacht charters are very popular because our clients want the privacy, security and flexibility that it gives them," Fischer-Rosenthal told Bloomberg.

In an as-told-to essay for Insider, Fischer-Rosenthal said the pandemic has "left long-term negative effects on all aspects of travel," with delay and cancellations at a high.

"The reason people come to us is they want to feel taken care of, to have flexibility, and to have options," Fischer-Rosenthal previously told Insider.

Duncan told Bloomberg that families are turning to yachts to be able to travel with each other during the pandemic.

"Unlike a home, you're not stuck in one place," he told Bloomberg. "And you can control the environment and test everyone for Covid if that's a concern."

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Contributer : Business Insider https://ift.tt/LaoIjA3

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