Alleys full of pleasure boaters
Free to attend, the Mille Sabords boat show has no means of accurately counting attendance. Nevertheless, the organizers are pleased to have seen the aisles filled, despite 4 days marked by the passage of two fine autumnal lows and heavy rainfall in the port of Crouesty. Sylvie Desmots insists on the appeal of the show's new formula, which now also welcomes new boats: "Bringing something new allowed us to communicate more and better. And even if the weather didn't make it easy for us, the visitors were numerous. 3 minutes after the end of a squall, the aisles were full again. Makes you wonder where they were hiding!"
Numerous professional exhibitors
The opening of the show to new boat sales also enabled Mille Sabords to welcome more professional exhibitors, some of whom had never taken part in the event before. Sylvie Desmots gives some figures: "There were 230 trade visitors, significantly more than in recent years, many of them new exhibitors. The opening of the show to new exhibitors showed the dynamism of the organization and attracted the trade."
In all, the show featured 240 boats on land, 37% of which were new, and 252 afloat, 13% of which were new. Although the weather and high tides posed some difficulties, even the larger boats were able to take part.
Sales and good prospects
Given the current economic climate, there are fewer impulse sales, and visitors are tending to give themselves time to think things over, which explains the slight drop in sales at the show. Of the 105 private buyers, 30% completed the transaction on the Mille Sabords pontoons. Units under ?30,000 accounted for the majority of sales.
But according to the organizers, contacts with professional boat dealers were good, as were those with equipment manufacturers, who benefited from an ideal position in the season, before the start of winter maintenance work.
At the end of this first edition of the new formula, the Mille Sabords intends to maintain the same course in 2024, for an edition that will include All Saints' Day, from October 31 to November 3.
