Earls Court, final numbers?

[Twister_Ken]

Anybody have final visitor numbers. I was there three times and it always seemed to be quieter than in the past.

And how about exhibitors' business levels? Up, down or static?

 

[kimhollamby]

No firm figs in yet.

Bank of Scotland think there was a rise in yacht finance enquiries - balance coming back a bit against power (45:55 yacht/power instead of the usual 30:70). Reason: keen prices on many of the mainstream makes. Some of the boatbuilders I talked to were about on par; no significant YoY growth but nothing too bad either.

Our stands did okay but in common with other businesses that need people through the gate we suffered midweek when the snow fell.

That said snowfall effect (one flake and everything grinds to a halt) nothing like as disastrous as 1987 when it virtually wiped out attendance for two days, despite only being a couple of inches. On both occasions the District Line stopped (is that a benchmark?)

Back to 2003 big numbers in the corridors on final weekend, especially Saturday (not uncommon when the show starts as early as that in the year). One of the important parts of the ExCel deal is that no show will start earlier than 3 Jan in future (next year it leaps back to 8 Jan).

Extremely unlikely we are looking at more than last year's 155,000 (if we are some exhibitors will want to know where they went). Show organiser says it is treating next London show as an entirely different event, rather than attempting to take across what we already have. Location will be an issue for some but one suspects that everyone involved knows they only have one chance at this to reverse the slow but gentle fall in numbers of previous years.

Organiser has agreed to appear on a moderated forum here a bit later on; will post details when I have them.

kim_hollamby@ipcmedia.com

 

[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

Isn't it about time they moved up north so to speak, the NEC would be an ideal location for so many more people. Contrary to popular belief we up here like to sail too. It seems Southampton is catering quite happily for the south, what would peoples attitudes be to an NEC boatshow? The mainline trains stop at the door, the motorways link very nicely and surely moving boats up a motorway would be far easier than across the city.

Just a thought


Julian

http://www.ukstaffords.com<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Jools_of_Top_Cat on 13/01/2003 23:49 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[tr7v8]

Sorry at NEC you'd certainly lose me and I suspect a lot from the South as it's such a pig to get to. From Kent it's into London on a train and across town and then back out again. As a drive it's even worse.
Not keen on NEC as a venue anyway, done to many non-boat exhibitions there!

Jim
-------

 

[bigmart]

Sorry to disagree.

I live in Hampshire & would chose the NEC over Excel anytime. Its quicker & easier to get to than Excel.

The last trade show that I exhibited at Excel was so badly attended the organisers are moving to Earls Court next time.

Martin

 

[milltech]

Personally the NEC was my preferred option, the only evidence of a move I can offer was last years "Horse of the Year Show" which I am advised was a cracking success with a move to a more accessible and friendlier location at the NEC in preference to West London, ( though not of course a comparison with EC).

John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>

 

[Badger]

I agree, the NEC would be a smart move and I live in Surrey. M25-M40 -M42 1.5 hours tops.

 

[pandroid]

NEC? Bl**dy Hell, is that somewhere up north? Do they have boats up there? I thought anyone north of Watford kept their boat in the Solent. Why would we want to go up there? There's no water....

 

[tcm]

really? what show was that? Mind you, i've never been to excel and i only live afew miles from it.

It would be great of one of the shows became a bit more important and that means easy access to big water, plus a slightly more sensible and spacious arrangement than the central reservation of the southahmpton bypass as at SBS.

NEC would limit boat sizes to whatever can get on a trailer, which would mean a less important show rather than more important, which in turn means that manufactuers or overseas vitors can skip the show without a worry - visitng Dussedorf instead perhaps- hence it becomes smaller, and so the gradual shrinkage goes.

 

[bigmart]

The show I was at was the Architectural Ironmongery 2001. Thats usualy enough to turn most people off but the idea was to attract the Architects from Central London where, in theory, all the biggest & best are located.

I can't fault the organisers pre-event publicity, so the only conclusion to be drawn was that, none turned up because the place was too awkward to get to.

You may be right about the NEC & its lack of water, but I don't believe that chipping the ice of the decks at Excel has anything more to offer. At least the NEC has good access for the whole country & foreign visitors.

Martin