Sinking feeling in Saint-tropez as yachts flee

High costs are forcing even the super-rich to set sail rather than berth boats at Riviera resort’s marina

SAINT-TROPEZ, the glittering Riviera resort favoured by celebrities and the super-rich, is lamenting a decline in the number of yachts berthed at its marina this summer.

While luxury yacht owners tend not to be short of funds, they are increasingly shunning the Côte d’azur’s upscale resorts because of prohibitive costs.

Instead of the renowned “billionaires’ harbours” of Saint-tropez or Antibes, many are choosing less expensive destinations in Italy or Spain, where berthing fees, fuel prices and crew costs are lower.

The high costs on the Riviera are blamed partly on France’s strict enforcement of EU regulations on the sale price of marine diesel and a new requirement for high French taxes and social contributions to be paid for crew members. As concern mounts for businesses and jobs, the Riviera’s three most prominent politicians – Renaud Muselier, the president of the Riviera region, Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice, and Hubert Falco, the mayor of Toulon – issued a plea for help yesterday to Emmanuel Macron, the French president.

“The gravity of the economic situation of the yachting sector in the Provence-alps-riviera region makes it necessary for us to appeal for your direct intervention,” they said in an open letter released to the media. Revenue at the iconic marina in Saint-tropez had fallen by 30 per cent since the beginning of the year, while Toulon, a less glamorous destination, had suffered a 40 per cent decline, they said.

Complaining that the EU was allowing Italy and Spain to undercut the Côte d’azur, they called for the “urgent harmonisation of tax and social regulations at the European level”.

They added: “Refuelling a 42-metre yacht in Italy gives a saving of nearly €21,000 (£18,800) a week because of the difference in tax … while the additional cost of maintaining a seven-person crew in France is €300,000 (£268,000) a year.” They said hardly any French sailors were being hired to crew yachts, and sales by the four largest marine fuel vendors had fallen by half this summer.

Laurent Falaize, head of the Riviera Yachting Network, said: “The British and the Americans are sending their yachts to refuel in Italy or Spain, where the interpretation of European tax rules is different from ours in France.”

Franck Dosne, manager of Port Vauban, a yachting harbour in Antibes, said: “The fall in visits can easily be seen simply by looking at a map showing where yachts are berthed in the western Mediterranean.”

He said that national insurance, health and other compulsory contributions which boat owners paid for crew members had increased from 15 to 55 per cent of their wages.

The open letter cited the example of the Monaco Maritime boatyard, which recently lost a lucrative contract for a 152-metre mega-yacht to a Spanish rival.

Tens of thousands of jobs depend on the yachting industry. Mr Macron has yet to comment on the Riviera’s woes.