Valencia, 1 November 2021. – After five days of the event, the Valencia Boat Show by Insurnautic today closes its 13th event, which has reached a record number of exhibitors and brands as well as visitors.
The Valencian event, which in 2016 moved to autumn dates to focus on the sale of new boats and make a name for itself on the Mediterranean boat show circuit, is growing and consolidating its position as a benchmark trade fair.
The Valencia Boat Show has grown this year by 30% in terms of surface area and managed to hang out the sold-out sign one month before the doors opened. The commitment to include an area that was open to the public with free access and combine it with a professional boat exhibition and sales area has once again managed to bring sailing and its sports closer to the general public and support the commercial activity of the exhibitors.
“This year’s Valencia Boat Show has demonstrated the annual growth of this event, which has unlimited potential. We have exceeded expectations and we are very happy with this year’s result. Business has been generated and we have managed to attract our exhibitors’ target clientèle, which was our main purpose,” said Eduardo Gil, Director of the Valencia Boat Show by Insurnautic at the close of the event. “We are highly satisfied and aim to continue with this growth next year”.
Increase in international visitors
In total, 22,570 visitors, mostly from the Valencia Region, but also from Andalusia, Murcia and Madrid, as well as a significant increase in the number of foreign visitors have been a feature of this year’s Valencia Boat Show event.
According to entry records, the event received visitors from more than twenty different nationalities in its “Passion for Boating” payment area. Customers were mostly from European countries including France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Russia, but also from countries as diverse as Argentina, New Zealand, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Latvia.
A business event
The Valencian show is positioned as a sales fair, the last of the Mediterranean circuit of shows and an event that is conducive to closing deals, with the added attraction of it being possible to try out the boats on sale at sea.
“Very good, because there have been customers of all kinds: for dinghies, new sailing boats, top-of-the-range boats, catamarans, management and charter sales. There has been business here. Boats have been sold, sales have been closed and more sales are going to be closed,” assured Antonio Gadea, Director of SportNautic, a distributor for Beneteau and Excess, among others.
“It will be a few days until we know if deals have been closed, but contacts have been made”, says Pablo Sendrade Náutica Marina Alta, which exhibits boats of between 6 and 8 metres in length from Astilux and Parker, with prices ranging from 33,000 to 111,000 euros. The ones that have piqued most interest among the visitors to his stand, as he pointed out, have been the 6-metre boats for sailing with a licence, from the Murcian shipyard Astilux.
“The contacts we have made are very interesting, so we’re very happy,” said Bárbara Carretero, from Marine Team, who were present with two trimaran models from the French company Neel, as well as a Lagoon catamaran. “We met a lot of foreigners. I think the fact that it’s being held over the long weekend and the tourist positioning of Valencia have contributed”, she said.
“There has been quite a lot of movement, and interesting people”, commented José Luis Naturil from Pleamar, present with two models from De Antonio Yachts, who has received “a lot of locals, but also quite a lot of people from Madrid and Murcia, and some foreigners”.
The commercial director of the Polish shipyard Moon Yachts, Mariusz Gajewski, who had the most exclusive boat on display, the Moon 60, was also “very happy” with the organisation. “We have met several potential customers from Valencia, Alicante, Madrid, as well as some foreign ones from Sweden, France and Germany,” said the shipyard representative.
Sailing clients return
The growing interest in sailing boats has also been a recurring feeling among boat dealers. “Sailing people who have been stuck in recent years have returned, looking for a new boat,” said Antonio Gadea, Manager of SportNautic.
Other dealers such as Juan Manuel Endrino, from Náutica AZA and Marcos Pérez-Manglano, from Arranche, distributors of Jeanneau and Dufour, respectively, also pointed to the growing interest in their fleet of sailing boats.
“The influx has not been overwhelming but it has been of good quality and with a lot of enthusiasm”, pointed out Pérez-Manglano, whose visitors have been mainly from Murcia and Andalusia, as well as Valencians.
Success with clothes, accessories and complements
The area open to the public located in Tinglado 2 received the largest number of visitors, with very good feelings from the exhibitors, mostly from the accessories, nautical activities, gadgets, clothing and accessories sectors. “We are very happy, we have had customers from here and abroad, but almost all from the nautical world,” said Silvia Gertrudis, from Ferragut Helly Hansen, whose best-selling products were sailing jackets and accessories.
Raquel Márquez, from AWA Sunglasses, which offers polarised and floating sunglasses, was also satisfied with the outcome of the event. “People from Valencia and a lot from abroad, such as Swiss, Germans and French, have come. And the truth is that whether they had a boat or not, they bought from us. They really liked the product”, he confirmed. Five days to experience the sea like never before. Valencia Boat Show by Insurnautic closes its 2021 event and sets sail for 2022.