blogger - Boatember

Here we are in September which has become the month of the boat shows, and this is happening all together in one month since some years now.  That means that I think boat shows should be a bit more spread out, instead of competing all against other in the same month and sometimes even clashing on some days.  The top European boat shows are all concentrated in September that is the exception of Dusseldorf in January.

In September we have three of the most important boat shows of the year; Cannes, Southampton, and Genoa at the end of the month.  The first two even clash on each other on one of the weekends.  Genoa used to have a great date in the first October week, but during the recession UCINA decided to move into the last week of September.    

The Genoa decision is strange and was coupled with reduced show period of five days from nine days, and one weekend instead of two.  I think this went more against the Italian prime boat show then in favor.  A boat show that in its best years till 2008 it used to gather 300,000 visitors, and now records 100,000 plus of attendance.

I think that Genoa should return to its first week of October date if it wants to matter more, and it's time that Cannes and Southampton choose different dates.  Yes Cannes has the international flare which Southampton will never have, so they are from a certain point of view different shows.  With the decline of the London boat show, the Southampton boat show is the important one of the British boating industry.  But with Fairline, Princess, and Sunseeker competing heavily in Cannes is not this a logistical nightmare for them.