Cancellation and postponement of major boat shows in 2020
The year 2020 will have been almost white for boat shows in France. The Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting limitations on public gatherings have led to the cancellation of all the country's major events, the Cannes Yachting Festival, the Grand Pavois in La Rochelle and the Nautic in Paris. At the European level, the Genoa boat show will have been the only major event held in 2020. The very early planning of these events leaves no room for uncertainty, forcing organisers to decide whether to cancel or postpone them well in advance. The recent postponement of the Boot Düsseldorf in April 2021 bears witness to this. Faced with this, is the agility of smaller regional boat shows an answer? What are the commercial arguments for these existing or emerging local events? BoatIndustry interviewed professionals from the French coast.
Resurrect or create local boat shows
If the dynamic is not specific to 2021, each year seeing the death and birth of various appointments, we have heard of several projects to create, more or less advanced, boat shows on the coast. In Saint-Malo, the Capitaine Corsaire association would like to hold its first show on the racecourse from 13 to 16 May 2021. "The project dates from January 2020, before Covid-19. The association was created in August 2020. We're yachtsmen, with no links to local boating companies. The objective is to reach 120 registered exhibitors by the end of 2020. There's a need for boaters to have something local. Our goal is to hold the show every year," explains Frédéric Bochard, a member of the association's board.
In Concarneau, the reflection is not as advanced, but the association of professionals of the port of Finistère is thinking about it. "There are ideas, even if it's difficult to project oneself. It's a way of communicating locally. We would have liked to relaunch Concarn'a flot. The afloat boat show, alternating with the Transat AG2R, had had two or three productive editions," recalls Stéphane Hébert, skipper of Cornouaille Gréement and president of the Groupement des Professionnels du Nautisme de Concarneau.
At Cap d'Agde, where the 2020 trade fair had to be cancelled, the importance of the trade fair format and its events for regional customers was stressed. "I was even surprised this year. I had a lot of disappointed calls from people from Occitania who had booked the hotel and their weekend to come to the show, even in the health context. Apart from the aspect of buying a boat, which concerns perhaps 5% of the visitors, if we want to keep the environment and the atmosphere of the show with the fittings, the conferences etc... it is not possible in private events" underlines Liliana Costanza, commissioner of the Cap d'Agde Boat Show.
Profitable trade shows for boating professionals
In addition to the regional aspect, which is attractive to yachtsmen, local shows have economic arguments for the players in the nautical sector. "With an entry fee of 5 euros per adult, we can offer a reasonable rate to professionals. We're targeting local dealers and regional boatyards" says the person in charge of the Saint-Malo boat show project. A place for a 6mx4m boat costs 60 euros for the 4 days.
"The cost is divided by 3 or 4 compared to major national shows. Shipyards that used to take Paris as a reference no longer do so, because they sell as much as in Paris at a lower cost", adds Liliana Costanza. However, the commissioner of the Cap d'Agde boat show stresses that all boat shows, whatever their size, will have to adapt to the new situation and to the shipyards' experience of boat sales in 2020. "The boat shows remain a reference today, with a need for human resources. But before the shipyards were waiting for shows like the messiah, today they are trying other things. In the long term, this will change things for boat shows. We'll have to change the way we present them," she concludes.
