2 BOAT SHOW SUCCESS
Early September saw two of Europe’s biggest boat shows reopen their gates for the first time since September 2019 – namely the Cannes Yachting Festival and the Southampton International Boat Show.
Although both in-water events looked and felt broadly like they always do for visitors and exhibitors alike, there was no escaping the new normal of obligatory Covid protocols. Thankfully, complying with more complicated entry requirements and requests to wear masks and use sanitising stations did not appear to impinge on visitor numbers or the overall show experience. Cannes recorded the same number of visitors as it did in 2019 (a record year) while Southampton felt as busy as ever but hadn’t released visitor numbers at the time of writing.
The new layout at Southampton with themed zones and a more flowing layout seemed to go down well with the majority of visitors, while the absence of Solent Park and celebrity stand openings didn’t seem to be missed. Visitors were just happy to be back and the sudden uptake in boating and watersports since lockdown ended meant this was the first chance for many keen newcomers to the sport to fully immerse themselves in the excitement of a boat show experience.
Crucially, interested buyers found they were still able to view and talk about new boats and equipment, and catch up with old friends and new. With good weather prevailing for most of the show and a steady stream of visitors during the week as well as the weekends, exhibitors made a special effort to manage the flow of people through their boats while maintaining a sensible degree of social distancing.
As regards new launches, both shows were awash with new offerings with effectively two years’ worth of novelties to catch up on. In fact there were so many to report on that we have had to split our coverage over more than one issue. You can read our initial overview of the copious new Cannes launches starting on p21 but will follow up with more in depth reviews and drive stories from both shows in the coming months.