Boat shows, caravan shows and conferences – it’s all going on in Birmingham
Robert Parton, managing director of Aqueduct Marina and non-executive director of British Marine, gives his views on the recent BoatLife Live event at the NEC.
FOR most of us in the marine industry, the early part of the year is usually the quietest and at Aqueduct Marina we began with what can only be called a feeling of trepidation.
With Omicron proving to be almost impossible to control we began the year with fingers firmly crossed that another lockdown wouldn’t happen. As we all now know it didn’t and business is thankfully as busy as ever.
In mid-February, Aqueduct Marina took a stand at the new BoatLife Live boat show at the NEC in Birmingham. As a brand- new event, this was something of a punt, as unlike the well-established Crick Boat show in the summer, we didn’t know what to expect. We felt we should support this new event in the Midlands and the team who put on the show.
Well done to the organisers for pulling it off; when you walked in, it looked and felt like a professional boat show, with a respectable footfall in the aisles. I particularly enjoyed seeing canal boats at the same event as larger luxury ‘gin palace’ boats.
In summary, we had a good four days, with the Thursday and Friday being excellent B-B networking days and feeling a bit like trade days. The weekend days were good but would have benefited from more public footfall. However, three named storms crossing the country during the show will have affected attendance, making rail travel very unreliable.
The week after the boat show, during half term, was the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show. This event was also at the NEC in Birmingham; however, Aqueduct Marina did not have a stand, but I attended on the Thursday. This show was a complete sell-out with all tickets selling online before the show, which just shows the huge demand for UK-based leisure.
At this well-established event, there was some marine boating exhibition space for the first time in many years with British Marine, the UK leisure marine trade body, having booked space and they had a few members exhibiting. Most of those who exhibited in this area had also exhibited at the BoatLife event.
Solid trade
I admit to being sceptical, but the British Marine members attending were selling jet skis, stand- up paddleboards, small inflatable dinghies and waterside locations. All appeared to be doing a solid trade to the caravan and motorhome owners attending this show.
As for next year, it will be interesting to see how the new BoatLife show develops and if the British Marine membership presence also grows at the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show. I can certainly see the benefit for our industry of a dedicated indoor boating show in the winter. For some businesses, there will be a lot of sense in attending the more mass-market caravan and motorhome event.
Our thoughts are now beginning to turn towards Crick Boat Show which will soon be with us. Aqueduct will have a stand at this year’s event and we are looking forward to seeing familiar faces and hopefully not too much rain!