The recently concluded 26th Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show (SCIBS) has been a great success, as reported by all involved. The four-day event was marked by strong exhibitor sales, bumper visitor numbers, as well as beautiful weather.
SCIBS 2014
The sunshine brought the crowds each day and visitor numbers were up a resounding 12% on last year, 42,051 over the four days compared to last year’s 37,571. There were 300 exhibitors, which is similar, 500 boats on water and land, and plenty of sales, leads and B2B carried out.
Exhibitor sales were up, with $35 million in deals transacted at SCIBS 2014 and more expected to flow from leads generated during the event.
Johan Hasser, head of events Mulpha Sanctuary Cove, said the planning and preparation, targeted marketing and personal contact with exhibitors in the lead up to SCIBS paid off.
“The boat show team worked very hard on a new layout and orientation of pavilions, to enhance the visitor experience as well as create logical and free-flowing spaces to optimise traffic around exhibitors. In terms of visitor numbers, we are very pleased, but the real measure of our success is reports from exhibitors that this was their best show for many years, based on sales, quality leads, sea trials this week and contacts made.
“We trimmed the entertainment program to make it relevant and appealing to families, without straying from the boating theme. Our exhibitors told us this year’s was a ‘boaties’ show’ with plenty of buyers out and spending with confidence.
“We have listened to exhibitor feedback and will do so again this year, to make 2015 even better.”
Around the show precinct, exhibitors were ecstatic with all elements of the event.
“It was a lot better organised this year,” said Peter Collins of Collins Marine, launching the Arvor Sportsfish 605. “Visitor traffic was solid over the four days, which we were very happy with. People seem to respond well to the product. In terms of interest, leads and potential, it was our best SCIBS for years.”
Sports Marine, representing Meridian Boats had a great show – selling their display boat on the second day. Dealer, Max Sutherland, who hasn’t been at a SCIBS for 10 years, said he was thrilled with the quality of people through this year.
“We have had good steady flow, very good quality – lots of boaties. Absolutely we’ll be back next year.”
With no actual boat on the water, but a high-tech demonstration of the soon-to-be-realised first hull under the Elandra brand, Luke Durman is heartened by response to the concept – a 53-ft luxury motor yacht built for long-range cruising.
Luke’s impression was that SCIBS has returned to being “the lifestyle show it once was”.
“Sanctuary Cove was always synonymous with celebrating the boating lifestyle. This year it felt like that again with the mix of exhibitors and the atmosphere.”
Sunshine Coast-based Multihull Solutions experienced its best show outing with five catamarans sold for a total of $5.6 million.
Multihull Solutions managing director Mark Elkington said he expected benefits to keep flowing from the company’s attendance at SCIBS.
“This is the best result Multihull Solutions has had from any boat show in Australia,” he said.
“And with strong leads generated at this year’s Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, we expect to continue the sales momentum for the next few months.”
Maritimo was pleased with the response to the release of the new S58 and other models in the range at this year’s SCIBS, reporting multiple sales and boats going to Fiji and the US.
“We have been thrilled by the response to the new S58 cruising motoryacht and the overall response to our range with some dealer competitors saying the quality and standard of our various models is even better than anything coming out of Europe,” said sales and marketing manager, Greg Haines.
Maritimo had seven vessels on display at Sanctuary Cove at the weekend which was one of the largest on water displays at the event.
“We made sales across the range including the newly released S58 so we are very happy with the result from the show.”
Haines said while it was company policy not to release the details of the actual number of boats sold there were sales across the range from the M32 sports cruiser to the M58 cruising motoryacht.
He said Maritimo’s USA President, Dave Northrop, was still on the Gold Coast this week and was negotiating with several customers who had come to Australia specifically for the show and to visit the Maritimo manufacturing plant. The company’s European representative, based in Monaco, was also here for the show.
“We will do more deals this week so all in all it has been a very solid show for us,” he said. “We have forward orders now for months which is a great position for us to be in.”
Runaway Bay Pontoon Boats, a long-time exhibitor at SCIBS, was very pleased with their sales during the show, and confident that enquiries will turn in to sales in the next few months.
“We don’t usually sell boats at the show, because we’re a custom-designed and built product, but we sold three boats at the show – two on display and one new build. We were thrilled with the quality of crowd, and enquiries still coming in thick and fast! I’m playing catch up now trying to get quotes out over this next week – as many as four. Some people will wait til spring, more leads will convert by Christmas. We were snowed under last Christmas.”
Winch says he believes there is a current wave of people upgrading their pontoon boats, and many new clients coming to them. “People are in the market to buy new boats and they’ve heard a lot about how versatile pontoon boats are. Once they’ve crossed over from a hull boat to pontoon boat, they don’t go back! They see they can entertain a lot of friends and family, they can move around, you can beach them at a location. They have so much more to offer.”
In their innovative trailer to showcase their product range, the All Marine Spares team felt there was good quality enquiry and lots of trade, particularly Friday and Saturday.
“We saw a couple of overseas companies come and have look, which is promising,” said Leigh Francis.
“We judge the success of a boat show from the people we speak to. We don’t actually sell, we pass them on to our distributors in their regions. A lot of trade people went through the trailer and said ‘I didn’t know you did that’ even after being clients for 20 years, so that was good.”
Carl Amor from the highly-awarded LED light company, Aqualuma reported a roaring first two days of trade from their stand in the Superyacht and Marine Pavilion.
“We had sold out of all our through-hull product by day two, which hasn’t happened in many years. It was a good show – the best first day in two years. I judge on quality not quantity and at this year’s show there were plenty of quality people. Sunday was down a little, but the others days were definitely up and from our point of view, the trade and consumer interest was strong.”
Amor said many of the sales were to existing customers, but that they were heartened by the numbers of new consumers who they then refer to their distributors. “We judge the quality of people by the questions they ask. We are confident a lot of them will turn in to sales through our distributors.”
He praised event organisers and said “it appears to be a better organised event this year”.
“They are stepping up the whole event, and it is becoming a much better show all round.”
Dylan Lopez from Sirocco Marine North is busy following up lots of leads from the show. “We did well, there were quality crowds and with our new stand layout, buyers were easy to spot. We sold six BRIGS at the show and one Williams, as well as a bunch of small tenders under the Sirocco brand. We have a Sealegs sea trial in a few weeks and many more leads to chase up.”
The Chaparral 19 Sport and Robalo 180 centre console attracted a lot of leads and Lopez reports they have organised about 12 sea trials.
According to Lopez, attending his 10th SCIBS as an exhibitor, the show is vital for marketing and spurring interest for the rest of the year. “It’s Australia’s leading show for atmosphere,” he states. “The combination of Village and on-water facilities is second to none. SCIBS is high-end but casual enough to have a good time.
“The weather and economy haven’t been on our side for a few years. But after this show, I hope we will get back to the way it once was. I was very proud to sponsor an offshore superboat Race Team, so it was a big thrill to put our boat at the entry way. The boat show team has been fantastic, working with us.”
Lopez hopes to achieve his ROI within the next couple of weeks. “We have always benefited from SCIBS in the 12 months of lead generation. At Christmas time people will come to us and tell us they saw us at Sanctuary Cove.”
Sirocco Marine North hosted its interstate team at SCIBS as well, holding a national team meeting. “It’s good for morale and team building, plus new ideas for database management and product innovation. No other boat show promotes Interstate travel more than SCIBS, which is very good for us. We have clients from all over Australia. The show is good from a local point of view and for our interstate teams, with sales going in to their territories from WA and NSW.”
Lopez says they are already thinking about 2015. ‘We will definitely take the same stand next year and probably expand our Robalo and Chaparral range along Masthead Way.”
Tanzer Husnu from stand up paddle board brand, UliBoards said SCIBS this year was “very good indeed!”
“We sold all our stock – 14 boards! There was certainly more interest than previous years. There seemed to be a crowd around our stand all the time. The proof of the pudding will be in the follow up sales in the next few weeks. We have taken a lot of phone numbers and emails so we will be following those up this week.”
There was also the B2B interest, with Husnu reporting distributor from NSW, Townsville and a couple of others interstate. “Sanctuary Cove has been very good for us. We won’t be doing any other shows because with logistics, investment and costs, it can get out of hand. SCIBS is a great environment for our product and we always have fun!”
Queensland Marine Centre (QMC) had a “positive show”, according to Andrew Bennett. “There was a lot better vibe than previous years from both visitors and exhibitors, all saying they were happy and looking forward to a good show. We had three genuine sales on Sea Ray and Boston Whaler boats, and other hot leads that are dependent on sea trials and trade ins. We hope to get a couple more this week.”
On the marina, Brent Vaughan from Multihull Central says it was “go, go, go” every day. “It was a very busy show for us. There was a lot of interest in the launch of the Outremer performance cruising catamaran, which was very well received. We have a lot of people who want to take a closer look and maybe the next one up.”
Then there are the other brands of multihull, Vaughan had on show. “We have a lot of tests and quotes to go out this week. We had huge interest in setting up a syndicate boat between Brisbane and The Whitsundays, and we will most likely sell a new Seawind 41 and 1250. I am hopeful of a couple of orders in the next few weeks.”
Rose King from Stefan Boating World, second time exhibitors at SCIBS was effusive in her response to this year’s event. “We had the best show – brilliant!” she said. “We haven’t stopped since with so many people in the showroom. We’ve been selling boats, motors everything! The Karnic range of boats was the most popular. I think it was a combination of everything – the weather, great layout of the show, and our product. We’ve literally been inundated with enquiries.”
King said they plan to book again for SCIBS 2015 “bigger and better with more boats next year”.
Justin Lye from AirBerth Boat Lifts said this year’s SCIBS was fantastic for meeting existing clients and spending quality time with prospective clients, from all around the world.
“We had people through from Canada, China and the US,” he stated.
“We have some amazing leads and were very happy with the interest level over the four days.”
Lye continued: “AirBerth Boat Lifts has been at SCIBS for about 15 years. SCIBS and Sydney boat show are the industry book ends as far as we’re concerned. SCIBS is a must-do when it comes to networking with people in the marine industry. We had a lot of great talks with people at the exhibitor function. Combining with ASMEX is ideal because you get that contact with exporters at the various events. The show was very well run this year and we’ll be back for sure in 2015.”
Keith Allardice, Executive General Manager of Mulpha Sanctuary Cove said the excellent sales results, increase in visitor numbers and positive feedback from consumers and trade during the four-day event boded well for the rest of 2014 for the broader marine industry.
“We are proud that SCIBS has become a fixture on the national and international calendar as the first Australian boat show of the year. SCIBS is a must-do event for brands and dealers in every segment of the marine industry and plays a major role in the marketing of the boating lifestyle.
The 27th Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show will run from May 21 – 24, 2015.
SCIBS is a key event on the national and international marine industry calendar and has injected millions of dollars into the Gold Coast economy over the past 26 years with 2013’s show generating more than $148 million.
The $A2 billion Sanctuary Cove, located on the northern Gold Coast, is Australia’s leading and most successful master-planned community.
Featuring two 18 hole championship golf courses, a 300 berth marina, five-star InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort, Country Club including full fitness centre, tennis courts and 25m swimming pool, Sanctuary Cove is also home to some of the most diverse waterfront, golf course fronting or hilltop residential house and land options on the Gold Coast.
At the heart of the community is the Marine Village – Sanctuary Cove’s very own waterfront commercial, retail and dining precinct, with more than 80 tenancies.
