AYC Aims to Be a Global Yacht Destination by Showing Albanian Riviera to the World

BY RUDINA HOXHA & JOSE PINTO

Aldi Bozaxhiu, Founder of Albania Yacht Charter (AYC) takes the readers of TRAILBLAZING MAGAZINE in the magic world of sea and yachts. He explains this world so well when he says: “The magic of going out to sea, where there are no borders or horizons, the feeling of being overwhelmed, of living every moment with fullness and energy, the possibility of abandoning oneself to the most incredible emotions is what makes us go further.” His goal is to promote the Albanian Riviera through AYC, which has created a comprehensive network of services over time. “We have a distributed fleet over all the Albanian coast, but the majority of our fleet is positioned from Orikum Marina, Vlora, Himara (Porto Palermo) and of course Saranda. Saranda is a hot spot for Albanian Riviera because of its proximity with Corfu,” Bozaxhiu said in this exclusive interview. Being the official dealer of the Fiart Mare, a shipyard based in Naples, AYC is the only company that has expanded its operations in Greece, Italy, Montenegro, France.

FULL INTERVIEW BELOW:

Can you please introduce Albania Yacht Charter to our readers, what services and facilities you and your team can provide?

AYC (Albania Yacht Charter) loomed on the horizon of Yachting and Tourism as a pioneer in this field. Throughout these years, AYC has grown along with this field and with the new experiences that this field offers, creating new markets and innovative services in this market. Currently AYC offers the widest fleet and the most options for Luxury Yachts, Motorboats, Sailboats, Speedboats, Catamarans and Gulets, off the coast of Albania. We workonly with selected and professional boats, verifying each boat, to ensure the highest standards for our customers. AYC is the only company that has expanded its operations in Greece, Italy, Montenegro, France. AYC has created a network of services over time, in order to make the yachting experience as comprehensive as possible. In addition to sailing and sunbathing or an aperitif on the yacht, AYC also offers off-board entertainment such as: scuba diving, pre-cladding, jet skiing, stand-up paddle, kayak, fishing. AYC has also selected the hotspots of the Albanian Riviera and has built unforgettable itineraries with them. AYC offers a professional provisioning service for the yachts on our fleet and for our partners. Throughout the years, AYC has become a synonym of trust for fleet operators and brokers around the world regarding Albania Riviera. AYC is the official dealer of the Fiart Mare, a shipyard based in Naples. The shipyard has entrusted us the representation of their brand in Albania, with the alignment of both companies’ philosophy and passion for the sea. The magic of going out to sea, where there are no borders or horizons, the feeling of being overwhelmed, of living every moment with fullness and energy, the possibility of abandoning oneself to the most incredible emotions is what makes us go further. AYC offers the possibility to every yacht owner or new owner to utilize his boat to the maximum, ensuring the owners to use their boat for they pleasure but also to charter it during the periods that the boat is free. This is a smart way to get the most out of your boat.

-What type and Size of Yachts are you capable of providing and what notice or reservation time is needed?

We have a range of different type of yachts for any client’s request. We offer weekly charter from 42 meters schooner catamaran, 33-40 meters luxury motor yachts, daily charters with motor yachts and sailing boats. The reservation time depends from the charter and yacht type. The luxury motor yachts need at least one-two week prior notice because the preparation of the itinerary, provisioning, contract handling, ports procedures, bunkering etc. are more complex and these clients need more attention. We barely accept last minute reservation for this kind of charter, because our main goal is our guest satisfaction and expectation. Anyway, we try to automate as much as we can the processes that we can in order to accept last minute reservation but without affecting the quality of our service.

For daily charters the process is much easier and more automated and we are more flexible to accept reservation even 24 hours prior (sometimes even less).

-What is the minimum time length to hire and use a yacht. What packages do you offer?

The minimum time length is daily cruisers charter (8-10 hours), with fixed ore flexible itineraries or sometimes only transfers. We also have created some packages for those who wants to celebrate different occasions in their life. This packages include business meeting, marriage proposals, gender reveal, romantic and anniversary dinner, birthday parties etc. We also have created some special packages (mostly during low season) for the companies that wants to do advertising, filming, TV shows.

-Does AYC also provide Marina services to foreign Yachts visiting Albania?

We provide Marina services through our one cooperator in every port or marina in Albania. What we add to this service is the itineraries that the guest might like, outdoor offshore and inland activities. Recommendations for hotels, villages and restaurants. Our goal is to make Albania a global destination for the yacht charter industry, and that’s why we try to keep the visiting yachts as much as we can in Albania, and showing to them the beauties of the Albanian Riviera.-We understand that presently the

- We understand that presently the infrastructure for servicing super yachts far from ideal. How does AYC manage such a situation, especially during peak season?

It is true, the infrastructure is far from ideal, even though some serious major projects are ongoing. But sometimes your disadvantages can become your advantages. What I mean by this? Not having an ideal infrastructure, means fewer super yachts in Albania, which means those super yachts that we accommodate have the beautiful Albanian Riviera all per se. From our experience, we have understood that the kind of guest that these yachts accommodate are in the search of the new unexplored and virgin destination, adventure and specially privacy. (However, they have all the luxury they want in their yachts.) Our policy in this kind of yachts is to never overestimate what our infrastructure can handle and we explain in details what to expect. We have had cases when we have declined requests from super yachts that was near impossible to accommodate in Albania for charter, because we want that this kind of clients to be our ambassadors in the future.

-With the arrival of the new Marinas in different locations of Albania, being more predominant in Durres and south of Albania, would AYC be changing their actual operative model and also participate in any of those investments, providing duty free and other Marina services to foreign yachts?

It is true that some major Marina projects are ongoing and this is a very good news for Albania. I don't think that our operating model will change but for sure, we will aim the perfection of our service because these projects are a core element to the service that we provide. Anyway, we have tried, and I can proudly say that we have succeeded, in offering the same exact service and quality as our colleagues in Greece or Montenegro, compared to our infrastructure. Sometimes we go to lengths for our clients in order to provide for them the best services, that our colleagues in the neighboring countries do not even think to do it. That’s why some of the biggest brokers and fleet operators trust their clients to our services in Albania, even though Albania is an unchartered territory for them, and this is our way to make Albania a new destination for this kind of industry.