BY APB Staff on 16 Jul 2022

Boat Lagoon CEO says sales have surged since 2020, helped by a loyal base of customers upgrading to bigger boats, and their referrals of friends

Vrit Yongsakul, Group Chief Executive Officer of Boat Lagoon Yachting

Vrit Yongsakul, Group Chief Executive Officer of Boat Lagoon Yachting

Boat Lagoon Yachting, one of Southeast Asia’s largest yacht dealerships operating in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Maldives, has registered record sales of 85 luxury yachts during the last 24 months, with 42 of them being new yachts.

The news reflects the worldwide trend for increased brokerage sales during the pandemic, as more people continue to be drawn to spending time on the water.

Vrit Yongsakul, Group Chief Executive Officer at Boat Lagoon Yachting, says:

“We have represented Princess Yachts for 27 years across five countries, and this has been one of the strongest couple of years.

“Sales have surged, driven in large part by our base of loyal customers upgrading to bigger boats, and their referrals of friends who seek the service assurance of a long-standing local dealership. About half of these new yacht sales were to existing clients.”

Princess F62

Princess F62

Yongsakul says that as a result of this trend, during the last 24 months, the best-selling yachts have also become the larger ones, with 30 of the new yachts sold being 70 feet, and larger.

“A number of years ago, Boat Lagoon Yachting sold the first 80-foot Princess Y75 yacht in the world – hull number one – and since then, this segment has continued to be the most successful in the region for Boat Lagoon Yachting. Among the yachts we have sold in this size segment are six units of the latest Princess Y85 series. And, in this year alone, we have also sold three of Princess Yachts’ flagship 95-foot yachts, including two X95 yachts and a Y95 yacht, with the latter, again, the first sold in the world – hull number one.”

According to Yongsakul, even though the region has benefited from the buoyancy of the global yacht sector, Singapore and particularly Thailand stand out as exceptions in being more challenging and demanding markets.

“These are countries where word-of-mouth and long-term relationships are the keys to success, and this has helped Boat Lagoon Yachting secure a greater than 75 per cent market share of new yachts sold that are in the range of 55ft to 100ft and manufactured by a global brand,” he says.

“Having sold more than 90 new boats in this size range in recent years, we are fortunate to have a family of owners who are ready to move to larger yachts. At the same time, the amazing new designs in the range are helping to attract an increasing number of new boaters into this exciting activity.”