2025 Palm Beach Boat Show observations...

I worked the show all 5 days. Wednesday was dead. No surprise. The show doesn't need 5 days. Most people I spoke with in the industry felt like the political environment was casting a dark cloud on otherwise Chamber of Commerce weather.

Thursday & Friday were brisk. I saw a lot of shoes missing a pair of feet along the docks; a good sign. Also saw a fair number of super-hot women missing a fool and his money.

The weekend was not quite as busy. Traffic seemed to be concentrated on Flagler where the spectacle seeking, credit questionable crowd turned out to show off their ink.

If the show was slow, it's simple economics. High interest rates, high boat prices, plunging stock market and consumers raising a finger in protest.

I went to the show Friday. Beautiful weather. Not very crowded but I have nothing to compare it to. First time to PBBS. I got tired of having to submit personal data (phone and email) to board some boats. Some of the boats were “represented” by people whose strong suit was not boating or boating knowledge. There were some manufacturers/dealers that had a very welcoming attitude with no personal data grabs required for you to board and knowledgeable people representing them. Overall, I would go back but if a sunny day on a beach was available I would take that over the show.

Your sentiments echo with everyone I spoke with. Palm Beach is the better venue of the South Florida shows. Easy to park, easy to walk, close to restaurants, bars and shopping. Perhaps more important, some of this country's greatest wealth is located across the intracoastal on Palm Beach Island, including areas north like Jupiter Island, Hutchinson Island, etc. Additionally, several major stock brokerage firms have acquired office space downtown within walking distance from the show. Palm Beach is slated to become Wall Street south.

We have discussions on YF dating back 15 years ago projecting PBIBS would become the premiere show. FLIBS enjoys greater attendance but part of this is due to the large concentration of marine industry professionals in Lauderdale that also attend the show.

Whatever Informa claims for show attendance (which is often inflated beyond reasonable figures), boat shows are a spectacle everyone enjoys and a fantastic way to comparison shop but based on attendance numbers, we know the biggest boat show is online now.

I'm a member of a webmasters council and we share findings among our group. Several have tested the waters with pop-ups to get email addresses which has consistently resulted in decreased traffic and page views. In many cases, people will not return to a website that is prompting them for personal information or accept cookies.

Informa is doing the same thing and it's affecting attendance. You can only buy tickets online, forfeiting a fair amount of personal information and you must use a credit card for ANY purchase at the show, including incidentals like lemonade! Builders, brokers and vendors spend an enormous amount of money to be present at these shows while Informa sabotages attendance with information gathering tactics.

On a somewhat related note, when I registered for media passes I was surprised to see Informa is no longer encouraging influencers. In fact, the registration page specifically said social media influencers would not be issued credentials. While I’m not privy to all the reasons, it’s a reasonable assumption this is having a negative effect on attendance. Informa wants the show to be exclusive to attendees and the marine industry, but this results in less exposure for builders and vendors.

I TRIED to get into the show on Friday.
40+ yrs in the boating industry, have worked, visited or displayed boats at many local shows, including the PB show.
Took the train to PB, shuttled over the hill to the show.
Got to the entrance tent and ATTEMPTED to buy a ticket.
NO TICKET SALES AT THE SHOW!!! ALL TICKETS HAD TO BE PRE-PURCHASED ONLINE!!
Told the attendant to take the show and shove it up their A*S.
Got back on the train and went home.

The 123-meter is Project 'Omega'.

Attendance for us overall was down but the quality of people coming in our display was the best we have had in recent years. As of this writing the show has produced one sale so far with nine scheduled sea trials to qualified clients. We'll see how things pan out but overall it was a great show for us.

I'd venture that 47m Feadship is BERILDA. The sale was not show related, and it closed two days before the show started.

WTF are you talking about??? In what possible alternative world would I download an app to go to a boat show??
And in any world that WOULD REQUIRE an app to get into a boat show, the result would be exactly the same, "Take your show and shove it...."

And no, I WAS in a great mood when I got there, But I was in a real sh*tty mood when I left!!

His mood is justified and he's not alone. I've heard this story too many times and lost count of the number of people who no longer attend these shows for the very same reasons we are discussing. It's incredibly frustrating, not just for consumers but also for vendors/builders who pay outrageous prices to reach a mostly regional demographic. These companies are getting diminished returns on their investment. I won't pretend to have a complete understanding of how these show promoters operate, but I know a lose-lose scenario when I see it.

What struck me was the transition of larger cruiser type boats to outboard power. I would say at least half if not more of the boat up to 60 ft had multiple outboards. Even the trawler type and cruiser catamarans. Also, very few sportfish boats. I'm a sportfish guy and when traveling the docks looked up to find the outriggers. Don't think I saw more than 10.