London Boat Show 2018 Exhibitor quotes

John Arnold, UK Sales Manager at Torqeedo said: “This year’s London Boat Show has far surpassed our expectations. With a brand-new layout, I’m delighted to report we’ve experienced an impressive number of sales, leads and interest across all our products – our stand has been constantly busy. The show acted as the UK debut for the Torqeedo Deep Blue inboard and our new 48v battery, and they’ve both been a hit with many new and current customers. Overall, it’s been a fantastic five-day show for Torqeedo and we’re really happy with the new format – it’s definitely a change for the better.”

Dan Arscott, Sales Manager at Grand commented: “This was our first London Boat Show for Grand and we are delighted with how the Show has gone. We’ve sold at least a dozen boats over the course of the past five days. The Show presentation has been fantastic and far exceeded our expectations. We are currently in talks with the British Marine Sales Team to double the size of our stand for the 2019 Show.”

Sean Robertson, Sales Director at Sunseeker International, commented: “It has been a highly successful start to the year for Sunseeker at London Boat Show with an unprecedented amount of visitors to the stand and strong sales.

“At this year’s show, we announced a significant double-digit growth forecast in revenue and volume for the overall year in 2017. The market reaction to our four compelling new products in 2017 has been particularly strong and has created a robust platform for future profitable growth.”

James Foot, UK Marketing Manager at Sunsail UK commented: “The 2018 London Boat Show has been a great success for Sunsail, and we’ve welcomed an impressive number of new and existing customers to the stand. It has provided the perfect platform for us to connect with visitors, network with industry contacts and showcase Sunsail’s latest holiday destinations.

“We have found the new format has worked very well, giving the show a fantastic new lease of life and bringing back the buzz. In particular, we have noticed a much higher concentration of people at the Show on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday than in previous years. We’ve had great feedback from visitors, who have expressed a significant level of interest in destinations such as Croatia, the Seychelles and the British Virgin Islands, which is making a tremendous comeback since we reopened our base on the 9 December. It’s fantastic to note that our customers are looking for adventurous new holiday options and are keen to travel further afield and we look forward to a very exciting year ahead.”

Mike Dovey, UK distributor for Malibu Boats comments: “We have had a superb London Boat Show; the weekend days were particularly good for us. The Show has been very well organised, and the footfall has been incredible. We have taken significantly more sales than the last time we exhibited and are pleased to report our highest ever sales at any Boat Show. Having not attended the London Show for five years, this has been a very welcome return and it has kicked off a very exciting year for us.”

Ian Cooke, MD at Onward Trading said: “Returning to the London Boat Show in 2018 has proven to be a great move for Onward Trading. We have been very busy over all five days and achieved an all-time record day for sales on the Saturday. With this number of visitors enjoying the Show, we need to ‘up our game’ for the 2019 Show!”

Emma Maule, Sales and Marketing Coordinator for Navionics said: “The 2018 London Boat Show has been a fantastic event for us and we love the new five-day format. We have seen as many customers over the five days as we did when the Show ran for ten, without incurring the additional overheads such as accommodation costs. There has been a constant buzz throughout the event, great enthusiasm from exhibitors and a fantastic footfall.”

Paul Clark, Manager at Kris Cruisers, said: “We have made a welcome return to the London Boat Show after six years away and we definitely made the right decision. We have enjoyed excellent levels of enquiries across the five days and it’s been great to see so many past customers who have gone on to buy boats. I believe the hire boat market is an ideal way to get into the industry and the Show has offered a great platform to raise awareness of our brand

“The new inland boating feature at the 2018 Show has been a big hit amongst both exhibitors and visitors. The Lock and Waterside Pub in particular have been very popular and provided a great hub to attract interest to the inland boats on show.”

Martin Berman, Director at Go Earth Ltd, said: “The Show was brilliant, exceeding even our most optimistic expectations. The quality of clients was high, and we did great trade at the show itself; plus a high value of follow-on business. As a direct result of the show we expect to represent potential owners with aggregate budgets in excess of £9 million. For us, as a small, niche company, this is a magnificent result and helps to further establish us as the ‘go-to’ company for our services as representing the boat buyer.”

George Cheeseman, Head of Suzuki GB’s Marine Division said, “The Show had a real buzz and it was a great opportunity to meet new and existing customers. It was also the perfect platform for us to launch our new, lightest in class DF100B outboard and our new market-leading retail finance offer.”

Rob Clay, TCS Chandlery said: “Although I was sceptical, the new five-day format introduced for this year appears to have been a success and we are satisfied with the footfall and quality of visitor we have seen.”