Barcelona Boat Show: a recovery

The Barcelona International Boat Show closes its doors in Port Vell this afternoon and confirms a trend towards recovery in the sector. Over the course of five days, the show which presented 120 new products and 650 vessels recorded a large turnover and number of visitors, who were able to take an active part in more than 100 programmed activities.
The show’s president Luís Conde said that this edition had a more optimistic atmosphere, exhibitors received more visitors, arranged more interviews, drew up more estimates and made more contacts and sales than in previous editions’. In this respect, he stated that ¿once again the event reflects the sector, which, for the first time in six years, is registering positive figures in the number of boat registrations, with an increase of 12.8% up until September’.
Boat Show director, Jordi Freixas, pointed out that this has been one of the busiest editions in recent years’ with a notable change in visitor profile: This edition has not only had more visitors to Port Vell interested in buying a boat, which we hope to see materialise in the coming months, but also we have drawn more young and family visitors keen to try the many activities on offer for enjoying the sea’. A great hit was the pool wave generator installed in the port, a pioneering initiative in Europe, where over 400 people had a go at surfing.
A major objective of this edition was to bring sports and recreational sailing closer to the public. In addition to all the activities, visitors received the new guide to tugboat sailing, designed to foster initiation in sailing, one of the types that will benefit from the reform of diplomas, approved by the Cabinet on 10 October last.
Just hours before the close of this 53rd edition, organised by Fira de Barcelona in collaboration with the Spanish National Association of Nautical Companies (ANEN), the show has registered more than 54,000 visitors, mainly from France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Russia. An annual event, the next edition of the Barcelona International Boat Show will take place from 14 to 18 October 2015.