No exemption for more than 5,000 visitors to the Grand Pavilion
Grand Pavois Organisation (GPO) announced on Friday 21 August 2020 that it had submitted a request for a derogation from the maximum authorised tonnage of 5,000 visitors for the Rochelais boat show due to the Covid19 epidemic. His request was finally rejected by the prefectural authorities. As a result, the organisers, like the Cannes Yachting Festival, took the decision in the association's board of directors to cancel the event that brings together yachting from La Rochelle and the Atlantic each year. The 48th edition of the Grand Pavois has been postponed from September 28th to October 3rd 2021.
An essential minimum size for the boat show
Alain Pochon, President of GPO, explains the reasons for this cancellation, guided by the desire to serve the best interests of visitors and boating professionals. " The current state of the pandemic, its worrying near future and, of course, this gauge imposed on 5,000 visitors mean that we are forced and compelled to cancel this edition. It should be noted that we already have an average of 2,500 exhibitors, staff and service providers of the organisation present on site. A gauge of 5,000 people would give us the possibility of welcoming 2,500 visitors at the moment T, while recalling that we are an event that has an average of nearly 80,000 visitors in six days... It is impossible for us, I remind you that the Board of Directors of the Grand Pavois Organisation is made up of yachting professionals, and this vis-à-vis our exhibitors, our institutional and private partners, to offer them an event of this calibre and capacity. It is unthinkable for us to leave out visitors with invitations or having bought their tickets beforehand, because the visitor quota was reached on the site. "
Uncertainty about a last-minute cancellation also came into play. " Let's also remember that we may, due to the resumption of the pandemic or the possible presence of local clusters between now and the show, be banned from opening the day before the event! This is a risk that we cannot take, not only for our professional exhibitors who invest in their presence, but also for our institutional and private partners, not forgetting our visitors, many of whom come from all over France and Europe "concludes Alain Pochon
