Northern exposure

Around $250 million worth of Australia’s leading superyachts – those for charter or sale in excess of 24 metres in length – are expected to participate in the Australian Superyacht Rendezvous – Great Barrier Reef edition.

Paul Darrouzet, owner of new host venue Coral Sea Marina Resort who this year takes over the organising reins of the Australian Superyacht Rendezvous, says it is an exciting opportunity to showcase the superyacht cruising potential of the Great Barrier Reef.

“Australia’s prominence on the global superyacht stage continues to gain momentum and the 2020 Great Barrier Reef edition of Australian Superyacht Rendezvous is our opportunity to showcase to the world our unrivalled and pristine cruising charter grounds for superyachts,” he said.

“Globally, more superyachts are looking to migrate to the southern hemisphere to capitalise on fresh charter destinations like the Great Barrier Reef and the Australian Superyacht Rendezvous represents an exceptional opportunity to tell the international superyacht world we are ready to welcome them,” he added.

“Superyachts are an exciting tourism avenue for Australia thanks to environmental cleanliness and standards of these vessels, they offer low impact but high yield tourism.

“While international superyacht guests are intensely private, it is conservatively estimated that a single foreign guest on board a superyacht would spend in the order of $15,000 to $25,000 per day – and that is something from which the Whitsundays and the broader Great Barrier Reef could yield significant tourism impact.”

The Queensland Superyacht Strategy’s vision is to increase Queensland’s share of the global superyacht sector by 10 percent by 2023 and see Queensland positioned as the Asia Pacific region’s superyacht hub.  The strategy recognises that Queensland boasts the largest concentration of marine trades within the southern hemisphere, significant cruising grounds such as the Great Barrier Reef and some of the largest marina facilities equipped to cater to superyachts.

According to statistics released from The Superyacht Group in March 2019, the global superyacht fleet has increased from 3,906 vessels in 2009 to 5,646 in 2019 with around 150 new superyachts delivered annually across the globe. The 2018 Queensland Superyacht Strategy reports around 200 are based in Australia which equates to around 4 percent of the global superyacht fleet.

According to Superyacht Australia, the overall superyacht industry in Australia is projected to grow to $3.34 billion by 2021.  In 2016, the industry was estimated to be worth $1.965 billion.

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