2013 Cannes Boat Show Sets Stage For Product Launches

The 2013 Festival de la Plaisance in Cannes is opened its doors featuring over 550 boats and aychts on display. The September show ran from last week.

Commenting on the opening, show organizer Alain Pichavant, head of the Sports and Leisure department at Reed Exhibitions France, comments: “With 150 new models unveiled for the first time, Cannes is proud of being the biggest boat show with an international and global fleet.”

Pichavant notes that exhibitors were from 34 different countries, from 5 continents, and that 70% of the 480 exhibitors and 85% of the boats on show are foreign.

“After years of emphasis on increasingly larger units, this year we are seeing a small drop in the size of motoryachts of over 20 metres (65′), but an increase in the size of sailing boats on account of the presence of large multihulls,” Sylvie Ernoult, the new general commissioner of the boat show, told SB.

She adds: “Our event is doing well, despite the current economic situation. We have filled the same exhibition area as last year, that is to say about 300,000sq m with about 30% new clients. This, for us, indicates the appeal of the boat show. Among the new exhibitors are boatyards that have never before been present at the Festival de la Plaisance, and others which had not come here for years.”

This year’s Cannes boat show focused on boats ranging from 10m to 50m (32′-164′). New boats lined up in the Vieux Port, near the Palais des Festivals, where some 180 yachts of over 20m (65′) exhibited.

Port Pierre Canto was once again the venue for European and American brokers, alongside charter companies, equipment manufacturers, refit yards, and service companies.