New London boat show location a success

LONDON, England – The 2004 Schroders London Boat Show, held this year at ExCeL for the first time, attracted 210,300 visitors and now holds the record for the largest exhibition ever held in London, the British Marine Federation reported in a statement yesterday.

The move to ExCeL allowed the show producers to increase the number and variety of visitor attractions, BMF reported.

Larger location meant more attractions

For example, a specially built watersports arena with a 70m x 30m pool hosted the first ever UK Indoor windsurfing championships, sponsored by Virgin Radio.

In addition, there were over 100 boats dockside including the naval frigate HMS Northumberland and the Tall Ship Prince William, and the Waterscape.com Inland Waterways Attraction.

Exhibitors report sales increases

Ed Rimmer of Challenger Syndicateships was delighted with the attraction and the show: “It’s the most stupendous show we’ve ever done in 30 years “With £250,000 of business generated we have taken more in this show than in the past four boat shows put together.”

Paul Streeter, managing director of National Boat Shows Ltd, said: “The 2004 Schroders London Boat Show has been a tremendous success and has justified the move to the new venue. ExCeL has proved to be a fantastic venue and has easily coped with the record breaking crowds we’ve had through the doors.”

Exhibitors across all sectors at the show were delighted, with sales figures high for the show duration, suggesting the industry is set for another profitable year, according to BMF.

Industry sees growth

Figures for 2003 show that the industry grew by 5.2 percent overall, providing £1,837 million of revenue from both domestic sales and exports.

Joan Porter, a director of Portfolio Marine exhibiting Dufour & Gib’sea yachts, said: “An excellent show with sales 33 per cent above our targets. ExCeL has more space than Earls Court and our customers have reported that it is much easier to make their way around.”

“We are delighted and have done better than we have done previously at Earls Court”, commented Chris Murdoch of Nauticalia. “We are 50 percent ahead of last year’s sales and it was our best boat show ever.”

Next year’s show runs January 6-16, 2005.

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