Edited by
Nick Burnham
The key boating stories you need to read Email: [email protected]LATESTNEWS
Next year’s London Boat Show cancelled
Lack of support blamed for the demise of 2019 show
Next year’s London Boat Show has
been cancelled. The event, which
was due to run from January 9-13,
2019, was pulled by organisers
British Marine due to ‘insufficient
support from a large proportion
of the marine industry to the London
Boat Show with its current format,
duration and location.’
The decision was based on the
findings of an independent research
agency, which spent three weeks
carrying out interviews with more than
67% of exhibitors. This revealed that
while a number of marine companies
supported last year’s change from
ten to five days, a large number of
key exhibitors were not prepared
to commit to next year’s show.
This was backed up by British
Marine’s own figures, which revealed
that ‘an insufficient number of signed
contracts of commitment to the
2019 show had been returned.’Visitor research also showed that
consumer satisfaction at the 2018
show was considered to be ‘below
acceptable industry standards.’
The news comes just weeks after
the resignation of British Marine
CEO Howard Pridding and January’s
departure of chief officer of boat
shows, Murray Ellis.
“The decision to put the London
Boat Show on hold is naturally
very disappointing for the British
marine industry,” said David Pougher,
president of British Marine. “But
British Marine and its board of
directors has a responsibility to its
members and we cannot commit
to running a show which is clearly
forecasted in its current format to
be commercially unviable and will
not meet customer satisfaction levels.
“By contrast, TheYachtMarket.
com Southampton Boat Show
produces a positive contributionto the industry, is well supported
by exhibitors and visitors alike and
is highly successful. We are now
able to put all our energy, expertise
and enthusiasm into this event.”
Bookings for the Southampton
Boat Show in September are said
to be well ahead of last year – for
both ticket sales and exhibitor space- to the extent that it is looking to
increase the footprint of the show,
both on land and in the marina.
Although it’s unlikely that the
London show will be reinstated in
its current format, British Marine
says it is looking at alternative options.
“We are very aware that many
companies in the marine industry
look at a sales activity such as the
London Boat Show in January as an
excellent way to kick-start the year,
but times change and we must do
the same in order to offer events
which are affordable, accessible,
welcomed and supported by the
industry and its customers, and
are financially viable for all involved.
The task for the British Marine
team, its board, its members and
its valued advisors is now to seek
new opportunities to support our
industry,” concluded Pougher.
The first London Boat Show was
held at Olympia, before moving to
Earls Court Exhibition Centre in 1957,
where it remained for almost 50 years.
In 2004, the show moved to the ExCeL
in the Docklands area of east London
to take advantage of dockside access
and the ability to display larger boats.
The first ExCeL show was spread
across both show halls and attracted
more than 200,000 visitors, but
attendance and size have been
in steady decline ever since.
The show reverted to a single hall
a few years later and by 2018, the
attendance was down to just 52,000.This year’s revised fi ve-day format
didn’t prove universally popular
with the industry’s big hitters