MYS Promises 'Even More Appealing' 2021 Event

Today is the day that the 30th Monaco Yacht Show should have commenced. Certainly in the midst of the wider tragedy of the pandemic, most notably the loss of life as well as long-term economic concern for many, these last few months have been an occasion for many of us to look inwards and feel thankful for what we have.  

But on the 23rd September, the gratitude of our industry - for the resilience of brokerage, for on-time deliveries and for business meetings over Zoom - is mixed with a sense of sobriety. It is the first time in 30 years that the heraldic red and white colours of the Principality of Monaco have not been streaked with the traditional ‘MYS blue’. For the first time since 1989, the docks of Port Hercules have not been flooded with the annual onslaught of yachting suppliers, shipyards, brokers, owners, designers and press from all corners of the globe, all there to celebrate the industry that unites them. 

Yet the show must, and does, go on. The MYS organisers did not rest on their laurels, beginning in July by conducting extensive research into the improvements they could make to the show. 

In the open letter written by SYBAss and LYBRA to the MYS earlier this year, the builders' and brokers’ associations expressed wider dissatisfaction with the way the show has been run in recent years, pointing to mounting costs and increasing difficulty in measuring the ROI of the seminal event.

The move has prompted the show’s organisers to look inwards, speaking with everybody in the supply chain - from yacht owners to luxury brands - in an ‘in-depth research initiative’, in the hope to ‘fulfill the expectations of the participants and the objectives of exhibitors’. 

The result, the show has promised in a release this morning, will be ‘an even more appealing show for next year’. Informa Markets and the Monaco Yacht Show will be revealing more precise details of the 2021 event, scheduled for September 22, in the coming weeks. 

In the throes of the global pandemic, pressure has mounted for global economic, social and political change. The superyacht industry has been forced to assess the celebration of hedonistic luxury and wealth it represents, and is now emerging as stronger, more resilient and self-aware version of itself than ever before. We have no doubt that the 30th edition of the Monaco Yacht Show will be able to do the same.