The Monaco Yacht Show (MYS) remains the number one superyacht show globally; a key date in the yacht industry calendar that continues to expand into every corner of Port Hercules year-on-year.
Sarnia Yachts has attended the show for many years and seen many changes to both the show and our industry over that time. Here’s how we adapted our approach for 2018.
The Evolution of MYS
Over the years the show has evolved, especially for Sarnia’s sector. Historically the show was more client-focused, whereas, now it is aimed at the industry as a whole.
Nowadays, the industry relies more on individual relationships and trust rather than historic business relationships. Almost everyone now runs their own micro-business within a company rather than having corporate partnerships.
The majority of brokers, managers, lawyers etc. have their preferred contacts for business referrals, so our message has to be spread far wider than before to catch what is now a broader audience.
What Does This Mean for Sarnia Yachts?
The result of this shift has meant that the benefits of having a Sarnia Yachts stand at the Monaco Yacht Show have become somewhat diminished, only compounded by the ever increasing costs of exhibiting at the show.
Most service companies such as Sarnia are located in Tent Darse Sud which, arguably, is quite far away from the central hub of the show and the usual locations for meetings.
These days we find a large percentage of our meetings are now pre-arranged and take place at the chosen location of the client, manager, broker or captain such as;
- The Monaco Yacht Club
- A hotel
- A restaurant
- The broker’s stand
- On board the yacht itself
With that in mind, Sarnia Yachts decided to not take a stand for 2018 but instead have people on the ground ready to head to meetings.
Bruce Maltwood, Director, Dan Armsden, Yacht and Crew Technical Manager and Steven Marquis, Senior Client Relationship Manager represented Sarnia Yachts at the Monaco Yacht Show 2018.
Update From the 2018 Monaco Yacht Show
2018 proved to be our busiest show to date re-enforcing our decision not to have a stand at the show.
Maltese Leasing was one of the main topics of conversation following the freezing of its previous form that most people are familiar. We are still waiting for the Malta authorities to announce the launch of the new operational lease which is expected in the coming weeks.
The feedback from the numerous meetings that our team attended during the show indicates that the most active demographics for buyers were Asia, USA and Europe with a significant downturn in the number of Russian buyers.
Once again, the decision not to have a stand proved to be the right one for Sarnia, and we would not be surprised to see others following suit in the future.
The Sarnia Yachts’ team will be attending a number of industry events and shows over the winter period as well as being in the South of France on a regular basis.