Dear Sir,

It is very interesting to see the marine hacks gathering, vulture like, over the pinned out bodies of ExCeL and Earls Court. For sure everyone seems to have a strong opinion on how the industry should behave with regard to boat shows.

I probably see as many shows as anyone in the industry - about 12 so over the last 12 months, including all the European majors such as Monaco Superyacht Show, Genoa, Paris, London and Düsseldorf.

Having attended Paris for some 20 years, would I really want to compete with a show that is well established and truly international? Probably not!

Are the French manufacturers going to put as much effort into a London show at the same time as their flagship event in Paris? Probably not! So we can probably rule out a major presence at Earls Court from Bénéteau Jeanneau Dufour Harmony, et al.

I have no particular axe to grind on behalf of or against National Boat Shows (NBS), or the British Marine Federation (BMF), or, for that matter, the new player in town. Sure, I have sat on a couple of committees of the BMF over the years, as I do for the local yacht club; it's putting a bit back into an industry I have enjoyed for some 30 years.

Of course ExCeL is not perfect and I heard a lot of comments from the people who were not going this year, plus from those who were there this year and will not be next year, both attendees and exhibitors. I do not like going to ExCeL, but I also do not like to go to the Helsinki show in February.

However, I go because it is the place to do business.

It is hoped that there was a substantial exit poll carried out so we have some idea of what the visitors’ reactions were to the ExCeL event. It also must be remembered that the majority of the marine trade voted to go there based on facts presented to them at the time and it is our show.

As far as the BMF and NBS are concerned I imagine they think they are in a no win situation. I also think that this is where the members of the UK marine trade family - plus importers - need to take a long hard look at themselves and the future of their businesses.

Why do we sell kit? Maybe because some one has bought a boat or knows someone who has; for every boat bought there are a number of other participants. Our trade needs to consider the fact that a strong unified boat sales operation is essential for the long term good of the overall market place and while we are at it, how do we get more people to participate in our sport?

What happens if we split the available business into two shows? Who wins?

Certainly not the trade as are we not then forced to do both shows? Will one show critically wound the other? Are we all going to delight in the summer long battle for exhibitors and customers? Is Earls Court not too close to Southampton? I don’t know about the rest of you, but our phones are quieter during December as Christmas is sharply in focus.

Will the new later date of ExCeL next year improve things as we get away from that first week in January period when most of the big money buyers are still in the Caribbean or sliding down a mountain?

Another few questions that need some thought include what should the attendance figure be? Are we running the right show for our customers? Who are our customers and how do we attract them to a show that is an entertaining and selling environment?

With the massive changes that have occurred over the last few years with web trading, online brokerage, global boat sales operations, etc, has the market shifted? Is the peripheral market dealt with by the other means mentioned above?

The London Boat Show was a success for many of its exhibitors and I, from inside the trade, found the trading base provided more than acceptable.

However, a tremendous amount of work was undertaken before the show to ensure that there were customers do business with, both by my company and the show organisers.

Perhaps the people who did visit were the ones who were really serious about buying and the reduction in the gate income was from the ones who were not? Is this the new norm, and if so which show horse do you get on; the one you know or the one you do not?

Besides the above we seriously need to consider pre-show budgets and have a better approval basis to ensure we do not get things like the ineffective Peyton cartoon campaign again. I would have thought the BMF can provide this for its membership and an independent might not have any such loyalty.

What will happen to added features like the BMF buyers meetings, where over 500 individual meetings were held between international buyers from major yards and potential UK suppliers, all arranged by the BMF’s international team and at a cost of only £30 per meeting. To go and visit the buyers would cost 20 times that amount - each!

Although there are many different aspects to the show, we are each only aware of a few, if any, of them, depending on the scale or type of our business. There is a huge amount of political work that goes on behind the scenes.

When I take time to consider what is happening within the marine industry, I wonder how much the trade will thank itself for splitting and supporting two shows in a few years’ time?

To put it simply we could end up with two broke shows and no London Boat show! Is this what we really want?

Again I will reiterate I have no allegiance to anybody in this matter and am just trying to think through what the consequences to the UK boating industry might be.

Yours faithfully,

David Barrow

Barrow International