Future moves
Cannes Yachting Festival 2018 experienced an exceptional year, symbolic of market recovery.
09 October 2018
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The 2018 Cannes Yachting Festival saw 542 exhibitors, 638 boats (including 219 new models) and 51,000 visitors.
“Over six days, all the major players in yachting gave world previews of their new models. From the Vieux Port to Port Canto, all along the famous Croisette, over a distance of 10 km, the Cannes Yachting Festival’s offering comprised 122 world previews of new models, 150 yachts over 20 metres long, 110 sailing boats, 46 second-hand yachts and 46 multihull vessels”, explained Sylvie Ernoult, festival director for the past five years. “We are delighted with this 41st edition, which has once again kept all its promises!”.
The French nautical industry appears to have recovered its best pre-crisis performance, with a turnover of 4.8 billion euros and over 40,000 employees.
Begun in 2017, the Festival has continued its development at Port Canto by reinforcing its content and increasing the number of sea and land links.
This has meant visitors have been able to see 46 second-hand boats between 22 and 53 metres long, displayed by the biggest French and international brokers, as well as the entire Toys area. The brokers shared Port Canto’s quays with the Festival’s selection of “nautical toys” – equipment for young and old which has become essential for yachters, including jetboards, longboards, jetskis and much more.
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At the Cannes Yachting Festival press conference, director Sylvie Ernoult announced the desire to contribute to the growth of the nautical sector and the development of its French and international customer bases by becoming the world’s largest yachting show while cementing its position as Europe’s largest nautical boat show.
“For the past three years, we have seen the Vieux Port become very overcrowded both on land and in the water. We have already begun relieving the congestion in the Vieux Port by using the spaces available at Port Canto which hosted the entire Toys area this year,” explained Ms Ernoult.
“On the other hand, in recent years our exhibitors and customers have told us of their wishes to have larger exhibition areas, both in the water and on land.
This led us to rethink the Cannes Yachting Festival overall for its 2019 edition. This project was made possible a er a long consultation with our exhibitors and with the support of the City of Cannes, the CCI Nice Côte d’Azur and many other partners”, she concluded.
Therefore, a real showcase, 100% dedicated to monohull and multihull sailing and able to accommodate over one hundred sailing boats, will be installed at Port Canto in 2019. With over 800 linear metres of quayside for monohulls and multihulls, Port Canto offers exceptional water-based facilities and extensive areas on land enabling shipyards to showcase their boats in an unparalleled way.
Following these moves, the Vieux Port will henceforth be dedicated to the motor nautical industry. It will enable shipyards and equipment manufacturers to expand their exhibition areas (on land and in the water) and open up their quays to new exhibitors and brands.
This major reorganisation, on the one hand, reflects the desire to better serve the interests of the clients by providing them greater visibility and, on the other hand, reinforces the legitimacy of the Cannes Yachting Festival.
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