Tour operator IWorld of Travel is launching new luxury ship charter products later this year that will be aimed at a rapidly growing niche within the travel industry: pickleball players.
According to a Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) report released last year, more than 13.8 million people in the U.S. played pickleball at least once in 2023 — nearly 10 million more people than SFIA reported in 2019.
To capitalize on this trend, the company recently partnered with Scottsdale, Arizona-based travel advisor and pickleball coach Riley Palmer to create two pickleball-themed luxury yacht excursions to Croatia and Greece, and has also commissioned a new floating pickleball court, currently under construction in China, that will be used during anchor stops on the Croatia sailings.
A New Direction
Prior to becoming a travel advisor, Palmer started playing the sport a great deal in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She soon started coaching pickleball, and later began playing professionally, traveling to places like New York, Missouri, Florida and Illinois for tournaments.
In 2021, Palmer also started selling travel and working for her mom, Cheri Gagnon, the owner of Your Travel Bug, a Travel Planners International affiliate in Scottsdale, Arizona, and it wasn’t long before Palmer started focusing in on the niche of selling vacations to pickleball players, a market segment where her services have apparently been attracting a great deal of attention.
“When I look at all my analytics for my website — and even my analytics for LinkedIn — from this time last year, the increase has been over 500%,” Palmer said. “It's definitely a sport that's on fire,” Palmer said. “And it doesn't seem to be going out because so many people can play.”
It's definitely a sport that's on fire. And it doesn't seem to be going out because so many people can play.
C-Suite Support
Michael Gelber, CEO for IWorld of Travel, said he was approached by Palmer with the idea to offer luxury charter yacht products to the pickleball community — and to do so in Croatia with a floating pickleball court.
“I told her right away, ‘Listen, I’m in,’” recalled Gelber, who has known Palmer’s mother, Gagnon, for years. “So Riley is now our international pickleball ambassador, because she brought this idea to me, and I want to make sure that if we have other travel agents out there who want to do this, we can get them good information."
Gelber said IWorld started selling its chartered luxury yacht products four years ago in Croatia and two years ago in Greece, and the tour operator has since operated a number of trips designed for specific communities and themes, including faith-based group sailings along with wine- and photography-focused trips.
Gelber noted that while the floating pickleball court will be available on the Croatia charters — along with a number of pickleball experiences on-land in the country — IWorld is using a vessel for the Greece product that features a pickleball court on its top deck.
“The Elysium is [already] a wellness ship,” he said. “It's got a spa on it. It's got 25 cabins and massage facilities. It has yoga and Pilates each day. And so we thought, what a perfect fit to be able to add pickleball to this wellness ship.”
And The Elysium isn’t the only cruise to feature pickleball at sea, as Palmer noted that other cruise operators have installed courts onboard, including Holland America Cruises.
But she emphasized the luxury experience onboard IWorld charters in Greece and Croatia.
“It allows [clients] to live a millionaire lifestyle for the week,” she said. “It’s absolutely white glove, five-star service, where the staff knows your name, and they're making your coffee for you when you walk upstairs from below deck.”
Gelber described the Croatia product as an eight-day, seven-night sailing down the Dalmatian Coast typically between Dubrovnik and Split, with capacity for 40 people. Meanwhile, the Greece sailings travel through the Corinth Canal to the Ionian Islands with stops in Nafpaktos, Cephalonia and Zakynthos, with capacity for 50 guests. Pre and post tours are routinely a component of both the Croatia and Greece itineraries.
Culture and Community
Making a comparison to travelers who might enjoy playing golf a number of times during a vacation, Palmer said the IWorld trips feature terrific exposure to the unique cultural heritage, history, cuisine and nightlife of the destinations, while offering customers a number of chances to play pickleball throughout the itinerary.
IWorld works with travel advisors to charter entire sailings for their luxury yacht excursions, according to Gelber, who noted that Palmer can assist advisors interested in doing so with the pickleball trips. He did note that all the 2025 full-boat sailings have sold out, so advisors thinking about booking the entire vessel themselves will need to look ahead to 2026.
However, Palmer said she has some space available later this year in Croatia and Greece for advisors who have pickleball fans interested in one of the pickleball IWorld charters she is selling now for later this summer. (Palmer said those products start at roughly $4,000 per person in Croatia and $4,950 in Greece and are generally commissionable to advisors for 6% to 10%.)
