Doors close for another year on the Sydney Show

by Bob Wonders on 9 Aug 2007 The doors close for another year on the Sydney International Boat Show.

The Sydney International Boat Show for 2007 could perhaps be best described as ‘different.’ Attendance was good, the weather was mostly on side, and the displays were of the usual high standard. What was different was seen at the gate; although attendance was down (a mere half percent), gate takings were up.

This has led organiser the Boating Industry Association (BIA) of NSW to believe that fewer concession tickets (Pensioners, Seniors Card holders and children) were sold and more people were on hand to pay the full adult rate.

Staged over six days in the first week of August, the show attracted 84,274 visitors, only 388 less than turned out for the 2006 show. Somewhat surprisingly, attendance was up for the opening three days, fell away for the Sunday and Monday and showed an increase on the final day.

Another marked difference from previous years was seen in the ticket purchasing.

Historically, show visitors tend to purchase their admission tickets at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre booths. However, with a ticketing booth adjacent to the Cockle Bay Marina, indications are that up to 60 percent of tickets sold may have been purchased there.

With the final attendance only fractionally down, Domenic Genua, marketing and event manager for the BIA, said the association was 'well pleased.'

'Excellent, no doubt about it,' he said.

'Consumer shows across the board are experiencing a down turn in attendance so to put it bluntly we’re stoked.'

The show opened to above average temperatures on the Thursday, experienced cold conditions and intermittent rain on day two and returned to blue skies and sunshine with cool temperatures for the remainder.

In the appearance stakes, the show looked the part. Professionalism was the word which came to mind when looking at the displays within the six halls of the convention centre, with ample aisle space for visitors, well turned out sales people and displays that had obviously been well planned and well thought out.

The daily fashion parades presented by Musto remained a highlight for the show’s duration, while the always-popular Yamaha Fishing Clinic again proved a drawcard.

I was delighted with the interest generated on the Better Boating Workshop stage, where Sail-World and Powerboat-World were responsible for coordinating a range of guest speakers covering a multitude of topics. The roar of high-powered engines from video footage of the Australian off shore powerboat competition and the recent World Water Ski Race championships in New Zealand attracted plenty of interest.

Other subjects included safety at sea, what to do in the event of breakdowns and demonstrations of various flotation devices and safety equipment.

Although boats in the million dollar-plus range account for only a small percentage of boat sales due to economies of scale, it was the spectacular floating marina on Cockle Bay that proved a major attraction and a show highlight.

Stunning vessels from Maritimo, Azimut, Princess, Riviera, Beneteau, Sunseeker, Steber, Carver, Bavaria, Fairline, Seawind, Catalina, Hatteras, Chris-Craft, Riva, Mustang and Jeanneau, to name but a few, attracted show visitors by the score.

There were nearly 300 vessels on the marina, the largest facility of its type ever constructed specifically for a boat show anywhere in Australia.

At time of writing, exhibitor comments were hard to come by, as many were involved with the tedious task of moving out. Mercury Marine’ Ken Evans, director of outboard sales and service, generally felt the show was 'slower than expected.'

'However, a number of our dealers did quite well.

'Overall, from a Brunswick viewpoint, we did very nicely,' he added.

Evans felt the ticket office adjacent to the marina may have led to more people than usual by passing the convention centre.

Peter Jenkins, marketing manager for Bill Barry-Cotter’s award-winning Maritimo, said the show had been outstanding for the Gold Coast company.

'We had the world release of our all-new Maritimo 550 sportfishing boat and the interest could only be termed phenomenal,' he said.

'The Maritimo 52 Sky Lounge was making its first NSW appearance and that also created plenty of interest. All in all it was a tremendous show for us in every respect.'

Another sure to be sporting a broad smile was Tim Sayer, managing director of The Riviera Group’s R Marine.

'We are celebrating record sales of 42 boats with a retail value of more than $53 million,' he said.

Another award-winning manufacturer, Seawind Catamarans, reported an excellent result. The company’s Brent Vaughan said 10 sales had been completed at the show, with further prospects and follow up likely to top the $4.5 million already confirmed.

Domenic Genua said it was always difficult to judge a show’s success in straight out sales terms.

'It’s fairly common knowledge that many people visit the show to take notes and prepare their purchasing plan,' he explained.

'I would suggest far more boats are sold as a result of following up leads than are ever sold directly at the show. As far as the BIA of NSW is concerned, I see our job related to boat shows is showing the boating industry and its products in the best possible light.'

'With the 2007 Sydney International Boat Show I’m confident we have achieved that.'

As to the show’s general presentation, as I covered what felt like many, many kilometres through the halls and along the marina, I did not encounter a negative comment. In fact, the most common quotes were along the lines of…..’How good is this’, ‘Can’t believe the size of it.’,’ ‘What an incredible sight.’

Not so long ago, Peter Jenkins, currently Maritimo marketing manager and previously in the same role at The Riviera Group, and a man who has visited more boat shows around the world than some have had hot dinners, had this to say about the Sydney International Boat Show; 'If this is not in the top ten of the world’s boat shows then I’ll give the game away,' he said.

I’d suggest he’s hit the proverbial nail on the head.

Personally, I feel the BIA of NSW key people, Roy Privett (general manager), Domenic Genua (marketing and event manager), Warwick Fairweather (operations manager) and Simon Hazelbrook (financial controller) and their support staff deserve the highest commendation. Putting together a show of Sydney’s magnitude is no simple task.

The 2008 Sydney International Boat Show is scheduled for July 31 to August 5 and after the briefest of breaks you can bet the team will be undertaking initial planning for it.

In conclusion, for those interested in statistics, the attendance break up for the six days (with the previous year’s figures in brackets) was;

Thursday, 9362 (8576), up 9.2 percent
Friday, 11, 435 (11, 194), up 2.1 percent
Saturday, 23, 274 (22, 675), up 4.6 percent
Sunday, 23,962 (25,884), down 7.4 percent
Monday, 8707 (9532), down 8.7 percent
Tuesday, 7084 (6801), up 4.2 percent.