Gulf Craft Feb 17, 2014 3:08:54 PM 5 min read

Turkey's growing millionaires boost sales of large yachts

February 17, 2014 – Gulf Craft, one of the world’s top 10 superyacht building shipyards, will dock for the very first time at the CNR Avrasya Boat Show which takes place from February 14-23 at the CNR Expo Istanbul.

Gulf Craft will be represented at the show by Sky Yachting, its exclusive distributor in Turkey. On show will be one of Gulf Craft’s most popular yacht models, the Majesty 56, with the yacht in attendance.

Gulf Craft debuts with the Majesty 56 at the CNR Avrasya Boat Show
Gulf Craft debuts with the Majesty 56 at the CNR Avrasya Boat Show

“Turkey has an incredibly robust boating and yachting scene, being bordered as it is by the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean. It’s a market that is price and quality sensitive and we are looking at capitalizing on the potential it offers through our local partners Sky Yachting who has a strong reach and respected history in the market along with a reliable technical team,” said Erwin Bamps, Chief Operating Officer at Gulf Craft.

The capital of Turkey, Istanbul, recently claimed the distinction of being home to the Middle East’s largest number of millionaires, with 35,000 millionaires in residence in the city alone. For many of them a yacht is the perfect way to enjoy the photogenic city’s chief charm – its prime waterfront location.

According to Orhan Ulgur, Sky Yachting, the swelling ranks of wealthy Turks is seeing a correspondence rise in demand for larger sized yachts, with the 15m-22m category in particular enjoying interest, and the trend spilling over into the larger superyacht category up to 40m.

“With its growing investment in innovation and new models at the larger end of its Majesty Yachts range, Gulf Craft is well-placed to ride the demand for bigger yachts,” said Ulgur. “Turkey has to date been dominated by a number of European yacht manufacturing brands but it’s a market that is appreciative of innovative and semi-customized high-value products. We have an aggressive 3-year plan in place to promote Gulf Craft in Istanbul, the Levant and Bodrum Marina with an aim to grow Gulf Craft’s market share by 10% and place it within the top three yacht brands in Turkey.”