Dubai International Boat Show (DIBS) rounded off a week of records with exhibitors’ sales expected to reach Dh1 billion ($272.2 million) as a direct result of the event.

With more than 750 international companies and brands taking part, DIBS attracted more than 26,000 visitors and recorded around Dh500 million worth of onsite sales, with exhibitors expecting around the same value to come, said event organisers, Dubai World Trade Centre.

Exhibitors and visitors from across five contents hailed the event as one of the most successful and impressive shows in recent years, it added.

ART Marine, one of the boat show’s largest exhibitors reported record-breaking sales totaling Dh240 million during the show, with more to come as a result of their participation.

“The show has been a leading networking platform and a premier showcase event for the leisure marine industry in the Middle East,” said Constantinos Constantinou, CEO, ART Marine.

“These are strong results and the quality products represented by ART Marine, along with our reputation for providing the ultimate in customer service, have once again shown our unrivalled commitment to our clients,” he added.

Gulf Craft, which has been participating since the DIBS' first edition in 1992 introduced four world launches and recorded sales of Dh70 million.

Mohammed Hussain Alshaali, chairman said, "Gulf Craft continues to consider the event as one of its most important marketing platforms of the year, launching four new designs to the world in 2011."

"It is the ideal opportunity for prospective owners to gain first-hand experience of the quality, craftsmanship, and value for money that have made Gulf Craft a major player in the international market for luxury yachts and leisure craft," he observed.

One of the show’s many spectacular highlights was the record sale of a 40 metre Sunseeker superyacht, which was bought for Dh100 million.

Arif Oomer, director, Sunseeker Middle East said the calibre and quality of the visitors to this event is consistently exceptionally high and the international contingent this year is more impressive than ever.

The show set off at a lightning pace, when a Dh1.4 million fishing cruiser on display at Al Dhaen’s stand was sold less than an hour after the opening ceremony.

Abdulla Alfahal, director administration of Al Dhaen Group from Bahrain, said: “This has been a wonderful show for us and the sales results are fantastic. The DIBS is known not just through the ME, but internationally and it is the ultimate event to conduct business."

"I leave this show with five out of seven boats sold onsite and I expect many more orders to follow. We are the proof that this show is essential for all marine businesses in the global as well as regional market," Alfahal noted.

One of the deals to be signed after attending the show includes an order from the Government of Sudan for 45 boats worth Dh18.5 million.

DWTC chief executive Helal Saeed Almarri said this event not only confirms that the leisure marine industry has a strong and a healthy future in the Middle East, it also illustrates the show’s fundamental importance as a business channel to the rest of the world.

Many new international exhibitors at the show confirmed it as one of the most impressive events on the international marine calendar.-TradeArabia News Service