Report: Boot 2024 Hailed A Success

After nine days of boot Düsseldorf 2024, the boating and water sports industry delivered a positive verdict on the trade fair. Exhibitor spokesperson and trade fair president Robert Marx said: ‘We had many new contacts at our stands and were able to conclude numerous deals. The right visitors ensured very good sales figures in the boat sector as well as for engines, boards, diving equipment and accessories. Boot 2024 provided the perfect start to the season.’

Despite very difficult conditions – from the arrival of winter weather to strikes – boot Düsseldorf once again demonstrated its excellent international standing in the industry, and CEO and President of Messe Düsseldorf Wolfram Diener was very pleased with the positive outcome of the trade fair: ‘With 214,000 visitors from 120 countries, we can be more than satisfied in these challenging times. Customers and exhibitors have a unique platform for networking here. We were once again able to underpin boot Düsseldorf’s leading position with an inspiring business atmosphere in the exhibition halls.’

Boot succeeded in increasing both its proportion of trade visitors (from 18% to over 21%) and the internationality of its customers (from 23.7% to 34.3%). The majority of visitors were interested in sailing yachts (42%), followed by powerboat fans (38.2%), divers (27%), charterers (11.7%) and surfers (9.8%). And boating apparel and travel were also in high demand at boot and proved very popular with 25.7% (boat wear) and 19.4% (nautical tourism).

Among the many enthusiastic reviews of the trade fair circulated, Hans Roeland summarised its success for Sea Ray: ‘One look at our stand says more than a thousand words … It was packed! We did excellent business and gained new customers throughout the fair.’

Simon Clare, Executive Director of Marketing at Princess Yachts, felt that boot is the perfect kick start to the boating year, and that being the first show on the calendar, it is often a good barometer for how the market may perform for the rest of the year. He was very encouraged by how busy the Princess stand had been and by the number of sales completed.

Michael Müller, CEO of Bavaria, said: ‘We were delighted with the high visitor footfall at our two stands, especially at the weekends. And even more so about the consistently positive feedback from visitors to boot 2024 about our yachts. We also used the fair to exchange ideas with our suppliers and establish new contacts with the yacht industry.’

Finally, Patric Polch, Managing Director of boote polch GmbH, commented: ‘Boot Düsseldorf is particularly important because it appeals to an enormous number of people thanks to its huge media presence. The mix of visitors to the trade fair fits in perfectly with our product range. We also noted that the expertise of the customers was extremely high and the quality of the discussions was first class. We registered far more demand at boot 2024 than in the previous year.’