30th Monaco Yacht Show Postponed Until September 2021

Informa Markets, the organising body behind a number of the world’s largest yacht shows and events, has been in close discussions in recent weeks with key stakeholders in the industry to discuss the possibility and challenges of hosting the show.

After SYBAss and LYBRA officially withdrew participation from the show last month, the announcement was made that the Monaco Yacht Show would be holding a not-for-profit event, with special measures including ramped up safety precautions and an advantageous pricing structure.

However, after discussions with stakeholders and partners to better understand the challenges facing owners, shipyards, brokers and other key participants in the show, the decision was made to postpone.

Informa Markets has attributed a key factor in this decision to the fact that a huge portion of the world superyacht fleet, currently located in the US and Caribbean, would face challenges in getting to the show alongside established calendar disruptions relating to COVID-19. 

Superyachts.com spoke exclusively with Gaëlle Tallarida, Managing Director of the Monaco Yacht Show, for comment on the decision. 

"We tried to set up the show as planned this year, but the global situation towards COVID-19 is unfortunately not yet managed. With exhibitors telling us that by calling clients, they are not keen to travel in the short time coming, so we made the decision to postpone.

The situation here in Monaco is safe, we still respect the distance towards each other but we have relatively few cases. We are all working in the office, with everything in place to protect the employees. The citizens of Monaco have been very respectful of measures in place; I would say the level of safety here is even higher than in France.

But unfortunately this is really not the case worldwide."

We asked Gaëlle for comment on, after the withdrawal of SYBAss and LYBRA and the ensuing announcement of a not-for-profit arrangement, what the biggest factor was in the decision to ultimately postpone.

"Unfortunately the not-for-profit decision was taken before the withdrawal from SYBAss and LYBRA - this was not taken as a response to the withdrawal." 

She affirmed Informa's statement that the situation in the US and other countries was an influential factor. "We had hoped to wait until the end of June to decide - the exhibitors were in the same mood as us, but some others said no, so for me it was not sufficient to consider to set up the show."

Finally, we asked Gaëlle what we could expect from the 30th edition of the Monaco Yacht Show, in light of the crisis as well as industry demand for change. 

While it is a little too early to comment on the particulars of what we can expect from MYS 2021, Gaëlle told us, "We work in close collaboration to praise the evolution which has been indicated by not just SYBAss and LYBRA but others too, and make the show more efficient.

We are always working to improve the Monaco Yacht Show, this is how we have worked for 30 years so, nothing has changed. 

A show as big as the Monaco Yacht Show has the addition of millions of details, and we will have a little more time to do that."

Informa Markets has added that the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show is on schedule for late October, and all parties have agreed to refocus their efforts instead on this event in the interest of demonstrating resilience and support of the yachting industry in a safe, secure and accessible setting. More than 900 boats are anticipated to be on show at FLIBS, including 100 superyachts. 

Charlie McCurdy, Chief Executive, Informa Markets, commented in a statement, “Like many other industries, the international super yachting community has experienced significant disruption in 2020. As we move to the other side of COVID-19, we are remaining agile in how we are supporting our partners and customers, flexing our events calendar, adapting products and providing digital alternatives where beneficial to best meet the needs of international communities through this difficult period.” 

He added, “To this end, we are focusing our efforts in the latter part of the year on delivering a strong platform to showcase the industry at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in late October, with the Monaco Yacht Show now set to return in style in September 2021, when it will celebrate its 30th Anniversary.”