If the 2010 British International Motor Show was going ahead, boats would have been involved, MD of National Boat Shows tells MBM
National Boat Shows had been preparing to sign up exhibitors for a marine section at the 2010 British International Motor Show before the event was cancelled.
This morning it was announced that the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders had cancelled the 2010 edition of the motor show due to the recession and the “unprecedented challenges facing the industry both in the UK and the world”.
At the show last year, National Boat Shows (NBS), the British Marine Federation subsidiary that runs the London and Southampton boat shows, organised for a number of marine businesses to exhibit on pontoons outside ExCeL.
Andy Williams, MD of NBS, told MBM: “We were planning to collaborate with them. The marine section was a great success in 2008 and there was a lot of interest for the 2010 event. We hadn’t signed anybody up, but it would have been about now that we would have started putting it together.
“Whenever the motor show is ready to return, we’ll be there with them.”
Williams also drew a line under speculation that the London Boat Show might also fall victim to the recession.
“The motor show didn’t sell products, whereas our show is a great sales opportunity, and at times like now, every sales opportunity is a welcome one. The objectives of the two shows are different, which is why it’s very important to keep going with the boat show.”
