ATHENS – They prospered during an eight-year-long economic and austerity crisis and are flourishing even during the long and deadly COVID-19 pandemic: Greece’s super-rich are spending some of their wealth on superyachts now.

The sales and prices of the luxury vessels are soaring, said Kathimerini, adding that market sources reported that the market is jumping for those who want not just yachts, but bigger and more expensive versions.

Greece has long been a favorite destination of the uber-rich sailing crowd who like to island hop or moor around the country and even the pandemic that limited travel isn’t keeping them from buying the superyachts.

Greece is also the world’s number 1 country in the construction of yachts over 20 meters long, with delivery dates stretching beyond 2024, the paper said, and the industry offering them for rent, the summer high season the high prime time.