China (Shanghai) International Boat Show 2018 – on the move
by CIBS 6 Aug 2018 22:37 PDT
20-23 June 2019
NECC Shanghai - the new home of China (Shanghai) International Boat Show © NECC Shanghai
As well as changing dates, the China (Shanghai) International Boat Show – CIBS – is upping sticks from its present location and changing venue. The 2019 edition of CIBS - the biggest and most important boat show in China – is heading out of town to the new National Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Next year’s show is scheduled for 20-23 June. Although the new venue is some 18km away from the centre of the city, it is hard by Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and railway station, which should facilitate access domestically and from abroad.
The National Convention and Exhibition Centre offers exhibitors a 28,000sq m pillar-free hall, and CIBS will be fowwing the trend of practically all the boat shows in Asia by incorporating a “lifestyle show”. There’s more: three other trade shows for prominent businesses and professions will be hosted at the same time in the spacious complex, which should help drive additional, well-qualified attendance for the boat show.
The Shanghai Boat Show in 1996, in an underground parking garage, was China’s first. It has since maintained its position as the country’s primary indoor show. It incorporates a strong fishing and diving element which caters for the increasing interest in inland and coastal recreational fishing, which is helping to drive the demand for smaller and medium-sized motorboats and outboard engines during a period when sales of luxury yachts, while improving, are still relatively slow.
Major foreign brands have always been present at CIBS. This is the commercial door to boating in China, and international brands have long understood that a toe in the door is necessary. The explosive growth of boating predicted – on and off – over the last 20 years has yet to come to pass, but current indications are that tides are flowing, if not yet in full flood.
The new NECC is something to behold in its own right. Facilities include exhibition halls, a commercial plaza, office buildings and a hotel - all linked together by an 8-meter-high elevated Exhibition Boulevard. The building has a total area of 500,000 m², including 400,000 m² indoor exhibition hall and 100,000 m² outdoor area. The indoor exhibition area consists of 13 big halls of 30,000 m² each, and three small halls of 10,000 m², all accessible by trucks.
Over 60 fully-equipped conference rooms surround the exhibition halls. Just 1.5 km away from Hongqiao Transportation Hub, NECC (Shanghai) is linked to Hongqiao Airport and Hongqiao Railway Station by the city's metro line, and the national highway network puts the major cities in the Yangtze River Delta region withing easy reach.