In the lagoon from 3 to 5 May 2024 the world’s most important kermess aimed at choosing the most prestigious yacht. The event is promoted and won by the Acquera Yachting Group of Venice and is expected participation of shipyards, designer and owners of large luxury yachts
The winner is… But this time it will not be an actor or a director, but a top-class yacht. On the long wave of the International Film Festival, Venice conquers another world leadership in the world of luxury by becoming the capital of the mega yacht market. On the initiative of Acquera Club, part of the Venetian Acquera Yachting group led by Stefano Tositti, and on the equally decisive push of the Venice City Council, the lagoon city will host the world super yacht Oscar for the next two years, starting from May 2024.
All the world’s leading shipyards, planners, architects, designers, as well as a huge number of owners of large pleasure boats – an estimated 500 to 700 participants – will meet in Venice from 3 to 5 May 2024 to vote for the ‘World Superyacht Oscar’, or select from at least a hundred large yachts operating around the world those that have the aesthetic, architectural, naval and technological characteristics to be defined as the most significant superyachts of the last year. An independent jury of current and past superyacht owners will decide who will take home the prestigious Neptune Trophy. Nominations for this year’s awards are still open and will remain so until Sunday 31 December.
Organised by BOAT International Media (BIM) for 19 years, the event, which had taken root over the last two years in Istanbul, returned to Venice after 27 years and this return of the event to Italy (an edition had also been held in Florence) coincided with the engagement of a new main sponsor for the World Superyacht Awards: Acquera Club. Part of the Acquera Yachting Group, based in Venice, the Acquera Club is managed in partnership with Knightsbridge Circle (one of the leading concierge companies operating in the super-luxury segment) and offers a travel and lifestyle management service dedicated also to yacht owners and charterers.
The Acquera Group, based in Venice and Venetian-owned, while being international and involved, among other things, in the creation of the world’s first web platform at the service of large yachts, will take care of all the logistics of the event, hotels, transfers, various bookings, and above all will organise unique experiences aimed at helping guests discover the extraordinary and unique side of Venice, where the first yachts were attracted years ago by the Tositti Group and which now has the opportunity to exploit an exceptional international stage to consolidate its position in this market.
“Winning the Oscar for superyachts,” said Stefano Tositti, CEO of the Acquera Group, “turns the spotlight of the top yachting players on Venice and, by induction, on the Italian super-luxury yachting market, which needs to connote itself as reliable and attractive in the same way as the natural, scenic and artistic treasures it is able to offer its international guests”.
“For Venice,” adds Tositti, “this is an extra stimulus to assess the potential of this sector, which is capable of generating an induced activity that is not even comparable, in terms of value, quality and long-term returns, with that generated by other segments of tourism that ‘crowd’ Venice. With the cogent need to rethink the quality of the offer to the luxury market on the sea”.
