Dubai International Boat Show generates biggest sales of the year to reinvigorate leisure marine industry multi million dollar sales confirmed at the five day show; spearheads region’s recovery with focus on business generation.
Leisure marine companies from all over the world have announced their best sales in recent times at the 18th Dubai International Boat Show.
Multi Million dollar sales were recorded at this year’s show, with a number of superyachts, including the AED 72 million Sunseeker 38 metre Special Edition, being purchased on-site as consumer confidence returns to the market.
“The outstanding business that was done at this year’s Dubai International Boat Show is a clear indication that the leisure marine market in the Middle East is on the road to recovery,” said Helal Saeed Almarri, CEO, Dubai World Trade Centre. “Consumer confidence is back and the Dubai International Boat Show has played an important role in stimulating demand and reinvigorating the leisure marine industry as highlighted by the impressive number of deals conducted at this year’s show,” he added.
Among the more than 700 companies at this year’s show that made strong sales included Al Masaood, Al Yousuf (Yamaha), ART Marine, Gulf Craft, IMG Boats, Mercedes, Sebile, Sun Marina and Sunseeker.
“This is our best ever result at the Dubai International Boat Show,” said Francesco Pitea, General Manager, Sunseeker Middle East LLC. “It was a great start to sell the Sunseeker 38 metre Special Edition on the very first day and we have confirmed further sales across the course of the week. There are many buyers across the GCC looking to purchase the best quality from the best brands. The Dubai International Boat Show has played an integral part in returning the industry to a strong position.”
This year’s show was the platform for 15 Global Launches and 25 Regional Premiers, highlighting the importance of the Dubai International Boat Show to the global leisure marine industry.
ART Marine, the Middle East’s largest importer and distributor of luxury motor-yachts, also reported an excellent response at their stand.
“The Dubai Boat Show is the main event of the year,” said Constantinos Constantinou, CEO and President of ART Marine. “The show attracts customers from the entire region which for ART Marine is very significant as we are a regional company; we just have to be here. Dubai is one of the key boat shows on the world calendar. We saw a number of serious buyers who came to the show. We are working on a number of deals that are pretty much done while some are still in the making. We are seeing new buyers and that is a great signal that the market is starting to come back.”
Gulf Craft was another company with a big presence and the companies COO, Erwin Bamps said that they had confirmed many deals during the five-day event: “We have already finalised four orders and five more are currently under negotiation. We know a lot of people will go home, compare notes and come to us. The Dubai International Boat Show is where we launch our new products to the world. People have to be able to meet face to face and that can only happen at events like this.”
In the Superyacht Pavilion, Westport was one of many international companies to report positive news from their participation this year.
“Westport visits shows all around the world and it is the organisation and brand that makes the difference,” said Philip Purcell, Vice President, Sales, Westport. “The Dubai International Boat Show is up there with the best. We have met with at least 25 to 30 serious clients who are interested in our brand and over the next couple of years we will do business with many of them. That is an outstanding result. It has been a great show.”
Sales at the show were not restricted to the superyacht section of the show. Exhibitors from all sectors reported buoyant sales.
“It has been a exceptional show. We have seen so many people from the GCC and Levant region and we have had many very serious enquiries from further a field, including from Morocco and Tunisia,” said Waleid Ateir, General Manger, Sun Marina. “We have done more than AED one million of business during this year’s show with people from all around the world and we get to promote our products to a very wide international audience.”
Riding high on the remarkable sales transacted at this year’s show, many of the companies are already making their participation commitment to return for next year’s event. Dubai International Boat Show once again looks set to become the biggest highlight of 2011 in the region.
First Published in Men's Passion Issue #21 April 2010
