Round Up: MYBA Pop-Up Show in Porto Montenegro

A New Cruising Ground
With a 60% growth in broker attendance since the first year, the interest in Porto Montenegro across the sales and charter community is evident. The interest for existing berth activity and superyacht attendance became immediately apparent when gazing to the end of the dock, where Pelorus, Predator, and Galactica Supernova ignited the stunning scenery behind.

One superyacht which calls Porto Montenegro home is Riana, a beautifully styled classic sailing yacht on display at the MYBA show for the first time and ready to enter the Adriatic charter market.

“Riana certainly has Porto as its home port,” explains Romy Hawatt, Owner of Riana. “I can emphasise the fact that it’s a very safe port. Very convenient, very high-end and if you look at it compared to many other ports across the world, this is a very nice quality destination. It’s at the doorstep to the Adriatic, the Aegean, Greece is just down the road, Venice, Italy is just up the road and in between you have 1200 islands through Croatia to explore, that itself can take years.”

The stunning cruising ground of Porto Montenegro is the perfect place to start a charter from the perspective of guest, captain and owner; arriving in the high-end development that is Porto Montenegro before stepping on board a superyacht to explore Kotor and beyond.

“I think Montenegro is good for starting a charter,” explains Captain Ian Carter of M/Y Reve d’Or, “the airport is five minutes away from the boat, tax free fuel and of course we’re talking about not having to pay VAT on all the charters. They have set it up so we can do it easily, that’s the key thing.”

“It’s a very undersold charter destination, I don’t know why,” continues Captain Carter. “It’s got some fantastic restaurants, nightclubs, it’s got such fantastic variety all in very short cruising stops so you never have to drive very far to get something different.”

A New Superyacht Showcase
The MYBA Pop-up Superyacht Show in Porto Montenegro is the ideal platform to showcase the experience of taking to the waters of Montenegro, as well as the myriad benefits to all parties to help further the region’s reputation as a premier cruising ground.

“In its second consecutive year this was truly a great edition of the show,” adds Fiona Maureso, Charter Director of Northrop & Johnson and President of MYBA. “The feedback from the brokers and agents is very positive, as they had a great 3-day opportunity to explore the yachts based in Porto Montenegro and discover the many wonderful things that Montenegro has to offer to them and their clients."

Attendees enjoyed their time at the show by learning intricate regional details in seminars, walking the show, visiting regional yachts, cruising the waters themselves and enjoying the lavish nightlife of Porto Montenegro through a series of exclusive events.

“I knew any show which is endorsed by the crown association of yachting like MYBA would be a success, because you need to have such support in order to have a credible yacht show and bring international brokers to attend.” adds Fillip Jerolimov, Managing Partner of IYC Croatia. “Last year, we had the presence of two yachts, and this year this number has doubled, but in terms of size with 168 metres overall, it has pretty much tripled.”

With more brokers and a concentrated number of yachts - precisely 20 with a much larger size range than year one - this is a rapidly growing show, and a hugely expanding region in terms of global popularity.

“We are very proud to have delivered a successful second edition of MYBA Pop-Up Superyacht Show this September, with 60% more participants than last year,” adds Billy Canellas, MYBA Director for Porto Montenegro. “That exceeded our expectations. This has been a real team achievement and a great collaboration between Porto Montenegro and MYBA. The feedback from the show this year is very positive and we are now looking forward to announce the 2017 edition during the Antigua Yacht Show this December.”

“We are expecting the number of participants to grow exponentially in 2017 allowing for it to become one of the leading superyacht shows in the Adriatic showcasing Montenegro's beautiful cruising grounds and Porto Montenegro's award winning marina facilities,” concludes Billy Canellas.

The MYBA Pop-Up Superyacht Show brings together international brokers, agents and yachts to discover the developing infrastructure and exceptional cruising grounds of Montenegro and the surrounding region. With such a successful second edition, the 2017 Pop-up Show will be another exciting step in the already promising future of a new superyacht hub.