Q1 2026 Greek Yacht Charter Market Retrospective

Two independent sources framed the quarter. GTP Headlines reported that Greece recorded a 24% increase in yachting demand in 2025 and captured 40% of all charter bookings in the Eastern Mediterranean, and that the government allocated 260 million euros across 30 island ports to upgrade yachting infrastructure through 2027. SuperYacht24, citing MYBA put global crewed charter bookings up 12% in 2025, the Mediterranean at 76% of global charter activity, and the 20 to 40 metre segment at nearly 70% of all bookings.

Those are the figures we would quote to a client who asked whether Greece was gaining or slipping.

It was gaining, and the state was spending on the harbours.

The crewed market in Greece prices by yacht, not by region: an owner publishes one Greece-wide rate card per boat, and the same yacht carries that card to the Cyclades, the Ionian or the Saronic.

The table below is the band structure we quoted from through the quarter, taken from the current rate cards of the ninety-six fully crewed yachts on the Greek Charter Index 2026.

Nothing in it is an average or a model; each cell is the lowest and highest figure that appears on a rate card in that band.

The floor for a fully crewed week is now EUR 17,000 for a 15 metre sailing catamaran, and the two yachts above 50 metres run from EUR 162,500 to EUR 235,000.

Every year the same three things disappear in the first quarter, and 2026 was no exception on this desk.

First, the late July and August weeks on the most requested yachts.

Second, the five and six cabin catamarans, because there are fewer of them than any brochure suggests.

Third, the premium motor yachts above 40 metres, which serious clients confirm a year or more ahead.

The shoulder months, May and late September to October, stayed comfortably open through March, and they price 15 to 25% below peak on the same rate card.

We do not publish a fill percentage, because we do not hold the industry's calendars, only our own quotations and the owners' replies.

The quarter's one genuine surprise arrived in its last days.

After the Iran and Israel military operations of 28 February, marine VLSFO climbed past 650 US dollars per metric ton in March (Global Maritime Hub).

For a crewed charter that lands in the APA, the Advance Provisioning Allowance, which on the yachts we represent runs 20 to 30% of the base for sailing yachts and catamarans and 30 to 40% for motor yachts, where fuel weighs heaviest.

At the same time Mabrian recorded travel intent falling toward the Gulf states and shifting to the Southern Mediterranean, and National Law Review described Mediterranean crewed charter demand into 2026 as stable and comparable to or exceeding 2025.

Read together: the destination gained, the fuel line got heavier, and the catamaran, which burns a fraction of a motor yacht's diesel, became the easier all-in conversation.

Our own read of the quarter is a broker's judgement and should be weighed as one.

We believe the catamaran's share of the Greek crewed market kept growing through Q1, for the reason above and because the family and multi-generational client wants cabins and deck space more than speed.

We believe the motor segment felt the fuel spike more than the headline demand figures show.

And we believe that the American client, who is the majority of the enquiries on this desk, books earlier than the European client and is the reason the peak weeks go in winter.

None of those three sentences is a measurement.

They are what we would tell you across a table.