Industry keeps renewing itself, as small boats make comeback at boot Düsseldorf

MIN steals Petros Michelidakis, director of boot Düsseldorf, away from welcoming exhibitors and overseeing the show build to hear his thoughts on the marine market’s current highs and lows.

According to Michelidakis, this year’s event features around 200 first-time exhibitors. “It shows that the industry is still renewing itself,” he says. Most of these newcomers represent motorboat brands, followed by equipment, diving and sailing boat sectors.

“This is just great,” Michelidakis adds. “This is the biggest international platform, and we now have about 74 per cent of international exhibitors, with the remainder based in Germany, at boot Düsseldorf.”

Another high for him is the small boat market, which is very much present at boot Düsseldorf this year. “We have 20,000 square metres full of boats up to ten metres, including small boats or four, five, and six metres,” in direct contrast to last year’s edition of the show, where Michelidakis feared stagnation in the small boat sector.

“We did a campaign, and the exhibitors did the same, and we really think it will encourage the families coming to boot Düsseldorf to purchase their dream – even if it’s a small one,” he says.

boot Düsseldorf hasn’t any space free when it comes to the halls showing motor boats, equipment and diving (underpinning the high numbers of first time exhibitors). “Everything is sold out, we have full halls,” he says, but the show has ‘lost’ a handful of big players.

“Lost is not the correct word though – they all claim they will come back in 2026. Of course we respect the decisions; if the circumstances are not perfect, they are not able to participate at the show. On the other hand, we have 200 new companies coming – from several sectors.”

Market slowdown as many people don’t feel secure about future

But while he’s “really happy that the big majority of the market is showing what they are doing with boat production and yacht production, the boat segment in general has slowed down since last year due to the challenges that we all hear and face every day in the newspapers.” He cites geo-political factors affecting confidence such as the crisis in Ukraine and other parts of the world.

“Everything has slowed down because many people don’t feel secure about their future. We see it everywhere – like the car and furniture business. There is a lot of things going on so the economy is not at its best at the moment, but we have faced these challenges before. We know that it may slow down for a certain period of time, but the market will definitely come back. We hope that the first signs of it coming back will be in 2025.”

Companies which are laying off staff is ‘a normal adjustment’. (Princess Yachts recently outlined its turnaround strategy amid £45m deficit, while Sunseeker declared its workforce would return to full strength later this month.)

“A slowdown of the economy is always followed by layoffs and other measurements to secure the future of each company. It is a normal procedure. Everyone knows it. It happens in the car and some other industries.

“This time, it is nearly equal to 2008 when the financial crisis came. So companies need to create their plan and strategy for the future. We will come back, definitely.”

And helping that come back, Michelidakis reckons that the show had 41,000 visitors last year who planned to buy a boat in the coming five years. “The market is still there,” he says. “But the decision hasn’t been taken yet. We hope they take the decision in 2025 at boot Düsseldorf.”

Charter market needs to find its balance

One of the sectors which Michelidakis sees as currently suffering is boats produced with the charter market in mind.

“There were too many offers last year and a lot of new boats came into the charter market, of course with higher prices. The charter community preferred to have three, four and five year old boats because they were offered at better prices.

“Now we wait for the market to find its balance. We are sure it will come back.”

Excitement for boot Düsseldorf new areas

While the show continues to promote sailing at a very high level – with a new sailing plaza, a new sailing centre and many big names coming – Michelidakis is excited about the new foiling world which he describes as showing the tech’s history, and what foils will mean for the future. He’s also delighted that there’s no space at all in the superyacht hall, with Sunseeker and Princess returning, and believes that everyone will be excited about the range of ‘beautiful’ motorboats in hall one. There’s also a re-designed surf hall “for the young people who are entering the watersports business”, which is darker and filled with tech and fun activities.

“The exhibitors have put so much effort into presenting themselves,” Michelidakis concludes. “What they are building up is fantastic, and we have so many world premieres. If people are here for business, they will find a lot of new people to connect with and network with and build their businesses. Then they will continue with what we all love, being a part of this beautiful community.”

Foiling World to open at boot Düsseldorf 16 December 2024