London Boat Show opened on January 6th
Drawing to a close yesterday, the 2012 Tullett Prebon London Boat Show has started the Olympic year successfully for the leisure marine industry with strong, positive feedback from both visitors and exhibitors. A total of 134,753 visited ExCeL London across the 10 days to enjoy five Shows in one*, with 102,841 enjoying a specific trip to the Boat Show.
Despite the difficult financial climate, this puts the 2012 Show just 6% behind last year’s attendance and slightly ahead of 2010. The Show continues to be a resilient and evolving event, in line with industry demand, with sales figures proving better than expected for many.
The Show, as always, with interactive and educational features, continues to impress and entertain visitors. More than 1200 visitors climbed HMS Victory’s rigging, over 1850 got afloat on the Watersports Action Pool with Neilson and Rockley Watersports and thousands of visitors took advantage of the mild weather to head out to the Used Boat Marina in association with YachtWorld.com. Plus, the introduction of the Luxury Lifestyle & Supercar Showcase, along with The London Bike, Outdoors and Active Travel Show, has helped to broaden the Show’s appeal and attract a more diverse range of visitors.
Importantly, the Show remains a vital showcase for the £2.9bn marine industry, highlighting manufacturing excellence, design, quality and innovation. Sales made at this Show are vital for exhibitors’ business plans for the year and the sector has shown resilience in the face of continuing economic turmoil.
Murray Ellis, Managing Director of NBS is pleased with the success of the Show: “We have worked extremely hard to create a 10 day event that our exhibitors would be proud of and that meets visitors’ expectations. The response we have had from visitors is that we are continuing to deliver the ‘wow’ factor. We acknowledge that numbers are down which is a disappointment but we are pleased with the high quality of visitors and the reflective sales.
“There has been a real buzz around the Show, from the moment the Show was opened last Friday by Tamara Ecclestone with a media throng.”
David Pougher, Chairman of National Boat Shows added: “With 14 world launches and more than 45 boats being launched in total, the London Show has once again cemented itself as an important event in the international marine calendar. We welcomed 128 new companies to the Show, over 500 companies in total, who have taken advantage of the January timing to promote themselves and their products to a significant audience, which they would not have otherwise seen.”
