Boatbookings US Profitability

Boatbookings.com Press Release

15 September, 2006 

Boatbookings.com Announces Profitability in North American Subsidiary

Boatbookings.com, a leader in online boat chartering, announced today that its North American operations, established just 7 months ago, is now running profitably and showing strong growth in Caribbean and US coastal charter bookings.

"It is a tribute both to the strength of the team and our overall business model that we could reach profitability so quickly in the world's largest market" noted Tom Virden, Founder and Managing Director of Boatbookings.com. "Our team, led by Eleanor Shannon, General Manager, and Sharon Bahmer, Sales Director, have done an incredible job of both finding great supply and closing sales. We were able to generate a lot of requests for  Caribbean charters through our online marketing campaigns, and the team 'stepped up to the plate' and really went after the business". Eleanor Shannon added "We have seen that as soon as we post boats/yachts on our site, we get calls from customers and close sales. We started out in the lower price ranges with bareboats but have found the same pattern holds true with larger crewed sailboats, catamarans and, more recently, motor yachts. There is a simple correlation. The more yachts that we market on the site, the more clients we attract. Things are actually happening faster than we had expected.".

The success of North America is of particular importance to the company because it provides a solid base of transactions year round. The North American/Caribbean booking high season runs from late summer through April, while the European Season Runs from January through August. So the business balances itself out, avoiding the highs and lows of many travel and luxury businesses. Boatbookings.com also continjues to see significant  demand for the Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies, and has marketed worldwide to potential attendees.