Purpose - This introductory paper aims to provide an overview of the significance of the theme issue.Design/methodology/approach- The article explains why luxury yachting can be considered as a form of tourism which contributes to the well-being of stakeholders in the sector.Findings-Luxury yachting (tourism) can be considered as a meta economic sector because luxury yachting is a representative of the evolution of global finance and economics. Luxury yachting is also a transformative sector of activity which positively spills over to other sectors and stakeholders, contributing to the well-being of a large community.Originality/value - The value of this paper is that the paper presents luxury yachting as a prism which enables the investigation of other topics. For this reason, the article refers to luxury yachting as a meta-sector of the economy and a field of research.