The Palma Boat Show was a visitor success

More tan 30.000 people visited the 30th Palma Boat Show, which took place from 1st to the 5th of May in Moll Vell. This edition was introduced with a successful new format, according to the generalized opinión by the exhibitors, and has reactivated the nautical sector, so strategic for the Balearic Islands.

In the opinión of the director of the 30th Palma Boat Show, Chema Sans, “ the number of visitors exceeded the previsions, which were 50.000 for the whole collection of events that formed the International Nautical Week of Palma. Besides, most visitors were nautical devotees with a real interest to generate business in short and médium term, and we had also lots of international visitors”.

The Palma Boat Show opened it´s doors with confidence and optimism, with 25% more exhibitors and 76% more moorings compared to year 2011, after the cancelation of last year´s edition.


During the event, the good vibes turned into reality, and the latest figures confirm that the nautical sector is starting to recover the drive of times past, according to the survey organized by the organizing committee amongst the participating companies.

Even not having had the chance to analyse the figures in depth, the exhibitors confirm that the boat show generated a large volumen of direct business. In fact, direct sales were made not only in the equipment sector but also boats.

A large majority of the participating companies, over 85%, express their intention to return next year, and 30% of them are planning to apply for a bigger exhibition space. “These figures are the ones that prove that the show has worked out”, affirms Sans, who has a feeling that the 30th Palma Boat Show has been a pleasant surprise for everybody, because it worked out both at the comercial level as well from the organization point of view. All the targets have been reached with flying colours.

The director of the event assures also that “this year a new era has started, because the show has been the largest in its history, it has been very extensive and has combined perfectly the área of the superyachts with the boat show which has united the different boats and interesting comercial offer.

In his opinión, “the chosen model has been a success, which has permitted a profitable edition: the exhibitors have had good sales, the visitors have had a good time with the activities and launches, Tapa-Mar attacted a large crowds and The Night of the Sea was very lively, all of which have contributed to a feeling of general satisfaction”.

Next week the organizing committee of the Palma Boat Show will have a meeting to analyse the figures and to make conclusions with the next edition in mind, for which an increase of exhibition space is already predicted, both for the superyachts as well as for the medium size boats. Besides, next year the new installations of Moll Vell will be ready, which means that “the show will have the best nautical installations of the Mediterranean”, according to Chema Sans.

The superyacht area

In the área of the superyachts and brokers, the exhibitors are also satisfied with the event. They all agree that the chosen dates were suitable, right before the season´s start. Apart from that, the May Day holiday attracted a larger number of international visitors, who were able to travel from their countries taking advantage of the long weekend. The exhibitors are equeally satisfied with the integration of the superyachts with the rest of the comercial area, as in many cases these two complement each other.

The majority of the visitors in this área were existing clients of the brokerages, although many new valuable contacts were made, amongst them many Brits and Russians who reside in Mallorca. By nationality, the Europeans were the largest group, apart from the Spanish from the mainland, Germans, Scandinavians and British. As a curiosity, there was even an American client who travelled all the way from the USA to visit a boat in the exhibition. Also, a positive surprise has been the number of brokers from other countries, who travelled to Mallorca to see in person the selection of boats for sale.

When it comes to business, various offers were made for some of the 47 sailing and motor yachts with average length of 35m, exhibited in the superyacht área of the show. There were also various chárter requests (out of the 47 superyachts, 6 were for chárter).

On the other hand, the superyacht sector estimates that their clients and visitors have generated an important business volume around the exposition area in Palma, mainly in hotels, restaurants and in shops for luxury goods.

Read the complete article in Nauta 360.