SUPERYACHT CHARTER SPECIALIST YOMIRA LAUNCHES

With almost 50 years of collective experience in the superyacht charter sector, founding partners Neil Hornsby and Amanda Armstrong launched Yomira in the last quarter of 2020 to offer a highly bespoke consultancy approach to charters, with the 360º client journey at its heart.

2020 will be remembered as a transformational year which saw the world come to a virtual standstill, with superyacht charters along with the travel industry especially afflicted. On the positive side, clients are recalibrating their lifestyle priorities demonstrating a strong appetite to travel and go yachting again, fuelled by the overriding desire to enjoy fulfilling, expertly curated experiences shared with family and friends. “High-end travel clients have been well served over the last decade by a new breed of exclusive travel consultancies specialising in a very personalised proposition for the entire client experience,” says Neil Hornsby. Surprisingly, the yacht charter service model has hardly advanced at all, remaining somewhat archaic and formulaic. “We were therefore motivated to modernise and breathe new life into the charter process with Yomira, going the extra mile in designing life-enhancing superyacht experiences to become more relevant in a changing world,” adds Hornsby.

Yomira not only dives deeper into understanding the vacation aspirations of clients, applying perception and insight to foster enduring professional relationships, but also simplifies cumbersome procedural complexities and ensures transparency. Even experienced charter clients begrudge the convoluted booking process and want a more streamlined system which is faster and more efficient. “This is a critical factor in being able to attract new clients to the concept of chartering a yacht, especially next generation clients,” says Amanda Armstrong. Yomira positions itself as an approachable, highly discreet and trusted resource, promoting superyachting as a lifestyle choice rather than a stereotypical status symbol. “We aim to build a more favourable perception of yacht charter by making it more appealing and accessible to a wider audience in order to grow the market,” adds Armstrong.

Clients today yearn for more immersive experiential travel opportunities and Yomira’s consultancy service is designed to guide clients through the limitless scope a chartered yacht can offer.

For wanderlust clients Yomira’s options include: stay and sail programmes in the Maldives incorporating a private island, spa and wellbeing cruises in Indonesia, dive trips in French Polynesia’s Tuamotu Archipelago, bone fishing in the Bahamas, Arctic expeditions and a variety of naturalist voyages in Australia, including whale watching and participation in reef projects.

In the more traditional cruising destinations, Yomira highlights hidden gems usually excluded from ‘milk run’ itineraries such as the Southern Grenadines, the Southern Exumas, the Aeolian Islands and the Northern Sporades. Customised offerings range from special nutritional programmes coordinated with superyacht chefs and staging blow your mind parties on board complete with DJs and live music to arranging activity schemes for children of all ages, private tours of Tuscan vineyards, coral safaris to Australia’s Outer Barrier Reef, sourcing archaeology or marine biology guides and much more.

Yomira’s vast insider knowledge and expertise of the charter market accumulated over decades combined with being a specialised bespoke consultancy allows it the agility to innovate and break new ground. “Our mission is to elevate the experience clients can enjoy on charter and we very much see our role as providing the inspiration and logistics to make this happen,” explains Hornsby.

Yomira is confident that the charter industry will gradually recover its ground once travel restrictions are relaxed, but is exercising in-depth due diligence to reassure clients on health, safety and travel protocols during continuing uncertain times.

Equally importantly, Yomira is committed to supporting sustainable yachting, from promoting the often underestimated pleasures of chartering a sailing yacht to engaging in carbon footprint reduction initiatives. “We also foresee increasing interest from clients in ocean conservation projects going forward and we will be developing some exciting voyages with customised aspects to meet this demand,” says Armstrong.

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