The Monaco Yacht Show returned to Port Hercule from 23 to 26 September for its 35th edition, and The Executive Magazine was on the quays for four days of a superyacht market in unmistakable motion. Held under the High Patronage of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, who led the official visit, the show welcomed 30,678 visitors to what has become as much a marketplace as a spectacle. For an industry that generates real money as well as headlines, the principality delivered the clearest snapshot of the year.
An industry gathered in one harbour
According to a Deloitte study for SYBAss and the Superyacht Life Foundation, the superyacht industry generates 54 billion euros a year, from construction and maintenance to yacht management and tourism. Some 560 exhibitors representing that entire chain gathered at Port Hercule, from shipyards, designers and naval architects to equipment suppliers, brokers and specialist service providers. The yachts on display were the most visible part of the story: 118 superyachts with an estimated value of 4.5 billion euros, 50 of them delivered this year, with an average length of 47.50 metres.
Having this fleet in one harbour mattered all the more in the current market. BOAT International’s Global Order Book 2026 shows the number of projects under construction falling for a second consecutive year, at record average length and tonnage, with build slots at leading yards committed until 2028 and 2029. A client walking the quays, in other words, was looking at the nearest thing to a full market that money can reach this decade.
The yachts that drew the crowds
At the head of the fleet, Leviathan, Oceanco’s 111-metre flagship delivered at the end of 2025, made her Monaco debut berthed alongside Draak, the 93-metre Oceanco comprehensively rebuilt this year to support scientific expeditions for her owner. Lürssen presented the 102.4-metre Nixie as a world premiere, the largest delivery of the year on display.
Turquoise Yachts unveiled the 88-metre Angelique, the largest yacht ever built in Turkey by volume, while other premieres included Pangea, the 80-metre Amels presented at a show for the first time, and Silver Fox, at 73.4 metres the largest Sanlorenzo to date. ISA Yachts’ Sea Raider X, Baglietto’s first T60 and Sairu, the Riva 54 Metri and the largest Riva ever built, completed a line-up that rewarded the long walk over.
A marketplace rather than a parade
Exhibitors invited 13,368 private guests, from owners and prospective clients to the advisers and representatives who act for them. The show’s own teams pre-qualified a further 648 visitors with a yacht project, each of whom received an invitation, an MYS VIP Guest Pass or a place in the Prestige VIP Programme, which this year accompanied 56 clients from around the world and organised 85 yacht visits.
Toby Moore, Chief Executive of Informa Prestige, described his first Monaco Yacht Show at the helm as confirmation of what the event has to be: a marketplace for yacht projects rather than a parade. In a market where brokerage and charter sales exceeded 4 billion euros in the first half of the year, against 3.61 billion euros a year earlier, those conversations carry weight that no parade could.
Design and sustainability take the stage
The new Designer Gallery replaced the former Yacht Design and Innovation Hub with a continuous platform in the Dockside Area, partly set on the rocks of the harbour, bringing together fourteen design and naval architecture studios including Espen Oeino International, Frers Design, Philippe Briand, Pininfarina and VPLP Design. Alongside it, an immersive experience by VBH allowed visitors to explore yacht projects in 3D, while the BOAT Lounge, created with BOAT International, hosted daily radio broadcasts, interviews and panel discussions. The Adventure Area extended across three quays with 72 tenders and a pavilion dedicated to hypercars and luxury cars in partnership with Top Marques Monaco.
Sustainability had results to show rather than promises to make. For the second edition of the Blue Wake Awards, an expert jury reviewed the 60 solutions validated by the Water Revolution Foundation through independent assessment, with trophies presented to Tykun, Bespoke Projects, Termodinamica, Amico & Co and Marina Ibiza. The special prize for a yacht went to Simena, the 62-metre Ares ketch that pairs a traditional rig with hybrid propulsion.
During his visit, Prince Albert II received the show’s annual donation to the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, raised this year to 55,000 euros, continuing a partnership that began in 2010. The cheque was presented on board Dagger, Benetti’s hybrid B.Now 67M, which joined the fleet certified under the SEA Index, the Yacht Club de Monaco’s standard for assessing and comparing yachts’ carbon emissions.
Looking ahead to 2027
Refit had its place too, with 15 of the yachts on display refitted within the last three years. With few build slots available at leading yards, many owners are choosing to upgrade their existing yachts rather than wait, and a market estimated at between 3 and 5 billion dollars a year, growing by 6 to 9 per cent annually, will have its own event from next spring: The Future of Refit at the Grimaldi Forum from 31 March to 2 April 2027.
The show also hosted the signing of the agreement between Tahaluf and Sela to deliver a Red Sea Yacht Show, powered by the Monaco Yacht Show and supported by BOAT International, which will hold its first edition at Jeddah Yacht Club and Marina from 14 to 17 October 2027. Closer to home, the 36th Monaco Yacht Show will take place at Port Hercule from 22 to 25 September 2027, by which time some of this year’s visitors will have returned, as Moore put it, to seal their purchase in Monaco.
