DAVIDH

Went past last week and noticed all the mooring signs had the fees painted out. Wonder if the lack of fees has made the enterprise uneconomical.

I don't think the Norfolk Broads holiday market is about to come tumbling down. Sure, there have been "perfect storm" factors that have depressed bookings this year - food/energy inflation, interest rate rises affecting mortgages (with 2 million households renewing in the next 12 months), rubbish weather, pricing still at lockdown levels. Much of these factors will stabalise, though I don't expect any upturn in customer sentiment in the next 12 months. Holidays abroad are not cheap as chips. I've been looking at a few options throughout the year, and a decent, half-board 4* hotel will cost around £1,000 per person per week. Inflation has hit the eurozone as much as it has here. The difference this year is that due to all the perfect storm reasons mentioned above, people's disposable incomes are smaller. A number of parties who would have taken a main holiday abroad and then a second break on the Broads, no longer have the spare cash for both. This is the first year I've noticed the newer, swisher boats not being let at certain peak dates. You can still get a week on a Broadsman, Monaco, or a Commander starting tomorrow. I've read elsewhere that Clive believes around 100 hire boats have left the market in the last few years. Many of those were the 10 to 12-berth older boats at Stalham. I agree with Robin that the stag and hen market seems to have been binned. There are other boats available to stags and hens, but these are not instead of those lost, they were always available. I just wonder if the decision to withdraw these boats was taken at a time when yard owners had the luxury of being able to pick and choose the customers they wanted, and expected that to continue beyond the Covid period? Yes, I agree with all the mentions of the next emerging markets for a holiday on the Broads. We are in a social media age and that seems to be the most cost-effective means of reaching new customers. There are still people chronicling their (paid for?) experiences on the Broads and then reporting them as blogs, or in the newspaper travel supplements to reach a new audience. But the Broads had an influx of just these people in 2020 and 2021 when they couldn't spend their money on a swish hotel abroad. Sadly, we didn't capitalise and many were left sorely disappointed by the facilities available to them on dry land, and the need to tie up mid-afternoon to get a mooring space outside the picture postcard pub location they had been sold a dream of. So in conclusion, I think this year (and maybe next) is going to be as tough on the Broads businesses as it will be elsewhere. If there is a decline, I suspect it will be slow and may become apparent over a number of years. But who knows, perhaps those visiting overseas this year will balk at the cost for 2024. The same pressures on disposable incomes will be there. Which way will they turn?

It certainly has had the effect of getting bookings in. I noted there were 18 boat (classes?) available for 7 nights starting this weekend when the deal was announced a couple of days ago. Now there are just 5 left to book.

No VAT on the overall package but there is APD (air passenger duty) which adds £13 (eg Europe)to £87 (eg Caribbean) to the cost per person. Plus the tour operator pays 20% on the margin it earns on each holiday.

I think the boatyards made hay during the covid years, inflating hire charges to a land-locked public. The same is happening now with overseas holidays rising by around 20% this year. So it may not just be that people are finding the UK prices unpalatable. Flight passenger numbers are reported still to be at 95% of pre-pandemic levels. Apparently, over 2 million households are yet to see their mortgage rate fixes come to an end, and as such, the inevitable pain of higher interest rates is on the horizon for these people. Perhaps this is a year of spending wisely. Instead of taking a holiday abroad and then a UK break (or two), people are focusing their money on just one main break. Of course, the weather hasn't helped and has driven a number of people to head for the sun in preference to the UK.

Very interesting write up Simon. You certainly got around, and Silver Mystique still looks a top boat despite it changing hands to a mass marketeer. Great tip about the time to visit Ranworth by the way.

Thanks Malcolm.

Can you provide a link please Malcolm? I've looked on their Facebook page but can't see the "news".

I notice Richardsons are advertising (only on Hoseasons currently for some reason) the fact that their boat prices for 2023 and 2024 are pegged at 2022 prices. Would be a good move if it wasn't that they (along with other boatyards) inflated their hire charges so much in 2022.

Well, if it's good enough for Britt....

Best wishes Ian. Not long before the season starts and your beloved team starts to perform to its true potential under Pochettino. Something to look forward to while you're getting kicked around in the close season.

Well, the banks want to save money by closing branches as machines are cheaper in the long run than humans (just as the government is wanting to do with rail ticketing offices by the way). Yet, the financial authorities are keen to hold them to account when they don't do enough to help customers who have been defrauded. The other week I received into my Halifax account (electronically of course) a sum from a maturing cash bond. After a few days, I wanted to reinvest it with another bank. Online, I jumped through all the hoops, even spoke to the bank's fraud department to prove I wasn't being manipulated. That wasn't enough though. I was told the money could only be released if I went to my local branch along with my passport and documents to prove the money was indeed being reinvested. Whilst waiting in one of the bank's rooms, I could hear a similar conversation going on next door with another customer. So I guess this is now becoming quite common, because the banks have to be seen to be protecting it's customers....sure it's not altruism! So we now have a situation where we may be referred to our local branch on occasion, while at the same time, they are shrinking their branch estate. Hold on to your hats guys, things are only going to get worse!

Sure that's right, but they would never admit it. The weak link is befriending employees who have access to the passwords. And it's amazing how many don't have adequate back-ups to roll the data back.

I think it's a misconception that the hire yards suffered during the Covid years. Yes, they weren't able to start operating in 2020 until early July? But because the population was landlocked, they had a ready-made audience chomping at the bit to book something...anything, in the UK. The Broads was a sell-out right through to the end of October, at prices that had been inflated to match demand. The norm is for only Spring Bank and the summer school holiday dates to fully book. The next year, from the 12th April (I think), people were holidaying again on the Broads, and once again, if you hadn't booked early, you wouldn't get in. Indeed, people were falling over themselves to book any cancellations that came in. These two years were my best-ever sales performances by some distance, so it doesn't stretch the imagination to work out the yards had good years also. Having said all that, it does seem some yards like NBD, have reduced their prices for 2023, and some like Richardsons, have not increased them. So they should be in as good a position as possible to be able to weather the inevitable downturns which I think will last into next year also.

New addition to Richardsons fleet. Bella Maria. Curiously, it's on Hoseasons but not displayed on Richardson's site yet: https://partners.hoseasons.co.uk/NBH/boat-holidays/bella-maria-bh2852

They've holidayed on the Broads so many times, probably thought there would be nothing new in there for them.

That's a hefty discount. Barnes are offering 20% discounts too. Bookings seem to be around 10% down on this time last year (for Hoseasons), though interestingly, above the level they were at in 2019, the last year before Covid affected booking patterns. Perhaps more people will book late with things as they are, knowing what disposable income they have to play with. Maybe it's just Ferry correcting an imbalance in their hire rates. A little surprising that the good weather doesn't appear to have instigated a rush to book. It could turn out to be a poor year for the yards, hotels, pubs, and other infrastructure. If so, let's hope there won't be casualties.

Not sure the prices have been hiked between 2022 and 2023. I've looked at just a few I still have prices last year for and Richardsons seem to be holding them level, eg Commander A - 7 nights August £3146 each year. Swan Ranger 7 nights August £1873 2022 and 2023 Fair Regent 4 nights August £1192 in 2022 - £1035 in 2023, Fair Monarch 4 nights August £1841 in 2022 - £1695 in 2023 Brinks Quartet 4 nights £1575 in 2022 - £1469 in 2023 though now £1329 with discount Of course, the prices were hiked between 2020 and 2022 so still leeway to come down. I don't think it's the prices so much as the Broads holiday afloat being seen as a second holiday. Many are 3 and 4 night breaks now, so not a "main" holiday. The overseas travel industry is still reporting buoyant sales, which is a surprise with things as they are. Perhaps people are foregoing their second holidays and that's why sales are down, and boats are still tied up.

That's disappointing Ian. Still on the conveyor belt of treatment. You have no choice but to sit on it until it spits you out at the other end, (which it will), and then get back to a normal life again. Best wishes.

Dead on Chris. It's the Instagram age. New boaters want to share their experience with their friends in the form of "wish you were here?" photos. My guess and limited experience, is those hiring the glitzy cruisers are, in the main, not the regular, there every year, Norfolk Broads regulars. The rest of the fleets are there for the regulars. So the yards are still catering for the breadth of the market, but choke off the building of today's swish boats, (camping on water is a gross understatement in when applied to these new craft), and the regulars will be left with an ever declining ageing fleet.

Can you see much interest in hiring (chartering) one of these at £1984 to £3146 per week, if it's marketed at camping on water? As in the Eurocamps example, people get a perception of what they're buying from the marketing. The parties that are prepared to spend on this type of boat won't even open the website.

Glad to see you've had the drone out Malcolm. My favourite shot is the portrait image of Thurne Windpump.

I've been selling Broads boating holidays exclusively for 13 years. I mostly only see newcomers, or people who perhaps visited many years ago, maybe with their parents. A high proportion (though not all) of the people would likely rebook direct with a boatyard if they intend to return. So my clientele tends to be people who have no preconceptions of what a Broads holiday actually is, except for what they see in advertising campaigns and on Youtube of course. They have likely holidayed abroad many times, and are trying a boating holiday for a change. They are used to a certain standard of accommodation from their previous holidays and maybe are paying anything up to £3,000 for a week on a swish cruiser. Whenever I'm afloat, I notice it's the more expensive boats that are first off the blocks. So these possible first timers eyes light up when they take over their boats. Think Fair Statesman, Broadsman, Commander, Arabella. Unfortunately, it goes downhill from there because they can't find a mooring in the school holidays, unless they tie up between 2 and 3pm. The Broads infrastructure has not kept up with the level of luxury available on many of the cruisers.

The biggest gripe has to be the lack of moorings in high season and over public holidays. Horning is bad. Acle will fill up even with the amount of space it has. Ranworth....forget it unless you want to queue up waiting for someone to move. Sutton Staithe - get there early or be prepared to turn around. Neatishead is oversubscribed. Irstead, more chance of winning something on your premium bonds. Potter Heigham - fine if your a hirer, needle in a haystack if you're a privateer and don't want to pay £20? Reedham Quay gets full. Brundall? - until the White Heron moorings open, you can always moor in Broom's yard - if it's not on a changeover day and you don't mind shelling out another £20. We've all seen the hire boats cruising past the pub moorings at six in the evening, looking desperately for somewhere to get ashore. Does that experience match the dream of a carefree, back to nature holiday on the peaceful Norfolk Broads? In many respects, it is camping on water, but if you tried to sell that to today's clientele, you'd soon have no customers.