Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show exhibitors confirmed strong sales at the close of the four-day event this afternoon.
Sanctuary Cove Boat Show
Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show general manager Barry Jenkins said exhibitors reported high quality sales leads and genuine buyers. Some reported it had been their best year sales wise for several years.
“We have seen some fantastic sales results,” said Mr Jenkins who confirmed that sales were made directly to international buyers as well as Australians.
“The Show has proven to be the place ‘Where the Marine Business Does Business’ and we have had exhibitors already indicating interest in the 2011 Show.
The 22nd annual event attracted 424 exhibitors, the third highest tally in the show’s history. There was a total of 576 boats and watercraft on display plus engines, electronics, marine products and services.
Industry veteran, Steve Shaw who has exhibited his Powercats at the Show for the past 10 years said that he saw a positive attitude from buyers. “It has been two years since we actually sold a boat at the Show, this year we sold five.”
The first sale was in two hours of the show opening on Thursday. Steve likened this year’s Show to 2007 when he sold some 26 boats. He said that before the Show he had many enquiries from people who were planning to come to the Show. He sold five of his bigger boats during the Show and is confident that he will double the figure in the next few months.
Boats International who market luxury Horizon cruisers sold a 65 and said there was a lot of interest in the new 88, which was making its world debut and the striking Bandido 66.
According to Dean Leigh-Smith of Australasian Marine Imports who import Hampton Endurance motor yachts the company has two positive deals on a 68 and 75 and have a number of sea trials booked for next week.
Palm Beach Motor Yachts got a 50 footer away and Peter Wylie who builds Pegiva said that he has seven boat tests booked with prospective buyers, which is a first for the company at the Show.
Tournament Boats, which are built at Yatala, signed a big deal to export at least 100 boats to South Korea. The deal was signed between the company and representatives of Komarine who attended as part of the Korean delegation.
Peter Jenkins from Maritimo, who traditionally keep sales figures very close to the chest, said it was the best show for sales the company had experienced in five years. It is known that of the sales Maritimo signed up, one boat went to Melbourne another to South Australia and a third to Singapore.
An ecstatic Riviera CEO John Anderson said that contracts had been signed for nine of the 43 Flybridge Cruisers, which made their debut at this year’s show along with 12 other Riviera models. Contracts for two Riviera 5800s and a number of other models had been signed up and the company had at least 40 sea trials booked for next week from which they expected more sales. John Anderson said that 25 per cent of the total sales would be exported.
Diana Orsmond from G-Force Marine said that there was a lot of interest in the company’s inflatables, many were being bought as tenders for larger yachts. She said they had taken deposits for 10 rigid inflatables with a lot of enquires coming from interstate visitors.
The new brokerage section was also successful with a good sales including a Sea Ray 425 sold to a Hong Kong property developer.
“The total visitor tally is still being calculated so we may not have those figures until later in the week,” said Mr Jenkins.
The 2010 Show’s major sponsor is Club Marine. Media partners include Channel 7, Radio 4KQ, Trade A Boat, BoatPoint.com.au and Gold 92.5FM. Sponsors include Hawker Pacific, the Queensland Government, Hyatt Regency Sanctuary Cove. Boat Show staff are dressed by Line 7. Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show is a member of the International Federation of Boat Show Organisers (IFBSO), the Australian International Marine Export Group (AIMEX) and Marine Queensland.
The $A2 billion Sanctuary Cove, located on the northern Gold Coast, is Australia’s leading and most successful master-planned community. Sanctuary Cove, which was first launched in 1986 by developer Mike Gore, was acquired by current owners Mulpha Sanctuary Cove (Developments) Pty Limited in 2002. MSCD is an arm of Mulpha Australia Limited, which is a subsidiary of Mulpha International BHD, a Malaysian listed company.
Upcoming Sanctuary Cove International Boat dates are:
2011 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, Thursday, May 19 to Sunday, May 22
2012 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, Thursday, May 24 to Sunday, May 27.
Contact the CharterWorld team for information on yachts available to charter in Australia.
2010 Sanctuary Cove Boat Show
