Business worth more than $20 million was transacted at the Bahrain Boat Show International (BBSI) this year, said the organisers of the event.

The show, which concluded at the Amwaj Marina yesterday (November 27), also witnessed the largest-ever turnout in terms of visitors to the event, with more than 15,000 people attending over the four days.

“This year’s event has grown considerably in size, exceeding expectations despite some issues with the weather,” said organiser Knotika Holdings chief executive officer Weal Juju.

“The size of the show has also almost doubled with 100 exhibitors and 50,000 sq m of exhibition space.”

Juju said exhibits worth more than $80 million were on display at the venue.

“Exhibitors reported the BBSI was an ideal platform to facilitate several sales, business deals, partnerships and product launches,” he said.

More than 150 international trade visitors also came across to Bahrain especially to visit the show and showed interest in taking part in next year’s event.

“This reflects the success of the strategy of converting trade visitors to exhibitors and, later, to establish local companies in Bahrain,” said Juju.

He said the show was a strategically important platform as there is a substantial amount of waterfront and marina development taking place in Bahrain.

“This means people are looking at buying finer yachts,” said Juju.

He said Bahrain was also centrally located in the Gulf around key markets such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar making it ideal to reach out to a broader customer base during the boat show.

One of the exhibitors, Sunseeker Middle East director Arif Oomer, said the boat show was about showing customers what is new in the market.

“Last year’s show brought us lots of new customers and interest and this year we have had even more interactions and leads,” he said.

Delma Marine director Abdulla Isa Al Doseri said they have signed a deal with Durrat Marina to build the first phase of one of their jetties.

It will include 90 mooring spaces between 10 meters and 26 metres, including a fuel pontoon, part of a 450 mooring space project.

Support

“We also used the show to launch our new product, Deco Boat Lifts,” said Al Doseri.
Meanwhile, Mr Juju praised the support by the industry and the Bahraini government to help establish the show as one of the main boating events of the region.

“We are very proud of the evolution of the show so far and couldn’t be happier than this being reflected in tangible deals for our exhibitors all aimed at establishing Bahrain as an ideal haven for marine lifestyles,” he said. – TradeArabia News Service