Dubai: As the luxury yacht industry recovers from the financial woes of 2008, it faces a drop in demand from Russian buyers amid a weak rouble.
Russians are one of the biggest buyers of luxury yachts, but the weak rouble has led some to trim their purchases. Since last year, fewer Russians have been travelling to Dubai, which is a popular holiday destination for them.
The rouble has dropped by around 42 per cent against the US dollar to 0.0161 since August 2014.
“The Russians love to go boating, but clearly they will be under pressure on their budgets so we think that market is going to contract a little bit in 2015. [Demand from Russian buyers] slowed down towards the end of last year,” said Jeremy Tutt, regional director at Kuwait-based yacht dealer Seas and Desert Group.
Similarly, Tarek Khalil, managing director of Italian shipyard Sanlorenzo, said that business from Russia has dropped this year.
“Business from Russia is affected by all of the world issues. It has decreased but it still exists,” he said.
However, Francesco Pitea, chief executive of yacht dealer SF Yachts, disagrees.
“[Demand from Russian buyers] is increasing. Wealthy people have money today, tomorrow,” he said, adding that he expects a 20 per cent sales growth from Russian buyers in the region in 2015 over the previous year.
SF Yachts has seen an increase in the number of buyers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE this year, Pitea said, without providing percentages of growth.
While the overall boating industry is recovering from the financial crisis six years ago, demand has not been consistent in the last few years, according to Gregor Stinner, chief executive of Art Marine, a yacht dealership and marina operator in the UAE.
“Year by year [demand] changes a bit because there is sometimes a wave of buyers — this could be related to economic confidence and exchange rates where things become more affordable, or it could be a trend,” he said.
