Boat show attendances.

moondancer

moondancer

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www.wisereach.co.uk
Found this on wikipedia.

ear Attendance Source Notes
2002 154,211 ABC audited
2003 145,845 ABC audited Last year at Earl's Court
2004 213,801 ABC audited First year at ExCeL
2005 154,041 ABC audited
2006 140,000 [1] (unaudited)
2007 130,000 National Boat Shows press release, 14 January 2007 (unaudited)
2008 127,251 ABC audited
2009 112,000 National Boat Shows press release, 18 January 2009 (unaudited)
2010 102,655 National Boat Shows press release, 17 January 2010 (unaudited)

Wonder if 2011 will see an increase if the recession clears??
 
It's interesting that the figures are not now audited. We were on a stand at the show and there were certain entry practices a couple of days befrore the closing day that suggested that they had decided to frig the figures. I think they were desparate to get over 100,000 and knew they weren't going to make it.
 
"We were on a stand at the show and there were certain entry practices a couple of days befrore the closing day that suggested that they had decided to frig the figures."

That seems entirely possible. I saw an earlier announcement from LIBS which said that the last weekend had saved the show in terms of attendance figures. If they sent out the pressgang that would go some way to explaining it.
 
I am not

going to get stuck into this debate as what ever I offer up will not be believed anyhow!

But I will say the final Saturday was the busiest IPC have ever been with a single stand at Excel.

On saying that, the first weekend was also one of the quietest we have ever experienced, but that can be blamed on the snow.
 
Irrespective of the numbers who attended, of the companies we do business with, SIBS 2009 was a cracker, the one company used to be in the first marque you go through on arrival, they had been moved and were sceptical about the new position. They believe the new position was partly responsible for increased sales.

Another customer who also reported very good sales (better than previous years) at SIBS 2009 told me that the first half of LIBS 2010 was dead, but from about mid week it was frantic.

Both these companies supply after sales service. I have no feed back from the new boat supplier we work for, but they have paid their bill!:D

I suspect the weather had a big part to play in suppressing the attendance, we were there on the first Sat, it was only the second day we were able to get the car out!
 
I was working at London show this year, the first big stand you see in entrance. From what I saw it was quiet, but people were there for a reason, and that wasnt necessarily a day out. Everyone who came on to the stand were genuinely looking, the vibe was right, on the whole.
we had one of our best show in a while.

Changes are afoot, I have heard, quite exciting changes.

Earls court was good, but so impractical, and I am told, never worked there, horrible to work in there.

Sunseeker were blasting a lot of horns, so they had a good show!
 
Apart from the weather and recession, i think the internet has taken away the need for the more casual attendees to go to a boatshow. Boatshow deals are available on the net, and in some cases better than boatshow deals.
 
>Changes are afoot, I have heard, quite exciting changes.

I don't know what you heard but there was a rumour (I stress rumour) that the Southampton show will be cancelled and the London show will be moved to Spring. Plus the new boatshow in Liverpool. It could be nonsense.
 
Its not so much the numbers through the door, but the amount of money people spend at the show.

Whilst numbers are down, if people that are going are going for a specific reason, ie spend money, then good.

I'll be going to Southampton this year, specifically with the intent of boosting the economy. But only if I think the deals are good. RRP after all is just the price that one starts negotiations from! (I wont bother with Excel as its just too much hassle to get to.)
 
Selfish guy who likes quiet boat shows

Visited LIBS 2010 for a day with the intention of looking at kit for a new yacht.

I managed to find and commit to new generator, inverter, heating, gps and radar. All in one visit, and that was in between attending Blue Water Rally lecture for 2 hours (very good thanks). Never even managed to get a pair of deck shoes before....... everyone was always too busy to do anything other than take contact details!

The one thing about quiet boat shows is that if you do have the intention of buying anything, you find suppliers that have time to chat to you. We managed to get decent demos of the kit on display and make a few decisions on the spot. In fact, quiet boat shows enable the guys that are displaying there to do a better job with potential customers.

So, quiet boat shows? Good or bad? Definitely rubbish for everyone except serious customers.

Cheers
 
Likewise. Managed to spend about six hours 1-2-1 with sailmakers, as a result one of them now has an order for a new suit of sails. Plus new electronix choosen, spread around three different suppliers. And a pair of flip flops with a built in bottle opener.

I like quiet boat shows. My bank manager doesn't.
 
KellysEye said:
>Changes are afoot, I have heard, quite exciting changes.

I don't know what you heard but there was a rumour (I stress rumour) that the Southampton show will be cancelled and the London show will be moved to Spring. Plus the new boatshow in Liverpool. It could be nonsense.
Click to expand...

If SIBS is cancelled it will be a criminal offence, as soon as we have proof that may be the case it will be time to lobby MP's!!!!
 
And

KellysEye said:
>Changes are afoot, I have heard, quite exciting changes.

I don't know what you heard but there was a rumour (I stress rumour) that the Southampton show will be cancelled and the London show will be moved to Spring. Plus the new boatshow in Liverpool. It could be nonsense.
Click to expand...

It is nonsense.....
 
Are you really suggesting that someone believes that all those nice middle class boat buyers that hang out on the Solent all summer, and then visit SIBS in September, are going to make their way up to Liverpool to get their latest Henry LLoyd suit.

Liverpool's improved massively, but the south coast it just isn't. In fact the only yachties that I know from up there drive to the Solent at the weekends!

And how many manufacturers will send their demo boats up there?

If this is true, then those delivery boys must be rubbing their hands.
 
Twister_Ken said:
"We were on a stand at the show and there were certain entry practices a couple of days befrore the closing day that suggested that they had decided to frig the figures."

That seems entirely possible. I saw an earlier announcement from LIBS which said that the last weekend had saved the show in terms of attendance figures. If they sent out the pressgang that would go some way to explaining it.
Click to expand...

I think the last weekend saved the show because the weather was better. They pre-sold some 30,000 tickets but by Thursday only about 15,000 had been taken up.
 
It would be interesting to know what price they were selling tickets at.

I was offered three different "deals" on tickets, through various organisations and Yacht Clubs all heavily discounted from the 'list' price. I wonder if the attendance was up because the average ticket price had fallen due to these discounts
 
the discount ticket price

gerry99 said:
It would be interesting to know what price they were selling tickets at.

I was offered three different "deals" on tickets, through various organisations and Yacht Clubs all heavily discounted from the 'list' price. I wonder if the attendance was up because the average ticket price had fallen due to these discounts
Click to expand...

is often around the £10 mark, you can, if you are an exhibitor get trade tickets to give to your clients but strictly speaking these should not be sold on.......

Or Tesco will have them on offer with their club card vouchers.

As I have said before the last Saturday was the busiest we have been at Excel with a single stand and most folk had put off their journey because of the snow.

Some of the snow stories were quite unbelievable considering there were only a matter miles between "some snow" and "serious snow" in fact if I had not heard a truly heroic storey about one of our employees, getting up at 4am, walking 7 miles to the station and catching a train for opening day (getting there at 11!) I would not believe half the stories...

It took all my strength to drag my backside from 10 miles away (as the crow flies) to get there every morning.

So yes I truly believe weather played a big part.

Exhibitions continue to have a falling attendance rate regardless of what they are and to simply be 10% down or even 20% in this climate is not a bad achievement.

And as with ALL exhibitions some exhibitors will do well other not so well, we did exactly as the gate suggests which based on previous years suggests they are telling the truth.
 
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