At the end of December Viking announced that it will not take part at the 2026 Miami International boat show. This absence is for the Viking yachts range of sportfish cruiser and yachts that today starts from 46 and go up to 90 foot. Valhalla the outboard center-console and sport yacht range will still take part, as will do Princess Yachts which Viking distributes for the USA. Viking declared that it has chosen not to display at the Miami International Boat Show saying that the in-water portion, which is moving from downtown Miami to Collins Avenue on Miami Beach, has become more of a venue for European cruising yachts than for sportfishing yachts.
The news actually was first posted on social media by third-party pages, with following Facebook comments saying that shows are expensive and over the years have gotten greedy. While the cost expense to benefit is a part of this, it is a small bit of the reason. In recent years Viking is nearly alone in the production sportfish segment and has no competition. Viking is the last one standing, and has the most complete sportfish range which fills all sportfishing sizes from fourteen to 27 meters. For a customer the boat show advantage is to see and compare, and make one decide.
Back in time past, sportfish genre used to have about ten brands. We had the Bertram and Hatteras years dominating the sportfish segment, the first in the seventies and eighties while the second in the eighties and nineties. We also had Ocean Yachts which had its own big successes from the eighties to the noughties, and also Post and Buddy Davis this last becoming a production sportfish maker in the late eighties and nineties. Ocean and Post are gone, while the others offer some competition. Bertram produces the new 50 Sport and 61 Convertible models, Hatteras is to come back after four years missing with a new 77 and is to be followed by a smaller model, while Buddy Davis builds the long standing 52, 58 and 70 models on order. Sportfish yacht demand is not what it used to be, although fair to say the custom builders of the East coast have taken over a part of the market since the start of the 21st century as these have quadrupled over the past twenty years or so.
Another note to make is that since last year Viking has also started to take part officially in the Palm Beach boat show. As noted in two previous bloggers the Palm Beach show is currently the most growing boat show in the USA, with an interesting international mix of participation and a size focus from fifteen to thirty meters. Viking also makes its Private Year VIP show at its Service Center in Riviera Beach, held at the end of January and always has a Factory Demo yacht, sometimes more then one at the important Sportfishing Tournaments of the USA and nearby areas.
In the meantime Yellowfin and Invincible, both owned by Warbird Marine Holdings also announced they are not taking part at the 2026 Miami boat show on the 22 January. The two brands will be organizing a private event at Miami Beach Marina on the same dates of the show.
Is the Miami boat show suffering?
Having a couple top names declaring to skip the show is not good news. But in the mean time top brands like Boston Whaler, Formula, Grady White, Pardo, Pursuit, Regal, Sea Ray, and Tiara, just to name a few have all announced new World debuts at the show. So the show might just make it in these challenging times. While economics have to make sense to participate and take part at a boat show, a show is also about giving the boater, customer, and future owner the experience, and why he should choose you instead of the other.
