The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show was one of the few events that continued through the Covid-19 pandemic. Attendance was down, of course, especially when it came to international manufacturers, exhibitors and visitors, because travel sanctions were enforced. Companies from Europe, Asia and Australia that had been annual fixtures at FLIBS couldn’t attend.

Except for the folks at Azimut-Benetti Group, who, 20 years ago, put in place the resources to make sure they would be at FLIBS even during a global crisis. “We didn’t miss a single Fort Lauderdale show,” says Federico Ferrante, president at Azimut-Benetti USA. “In 2003, we had the vision to invest with direct personnel from the factory in the United States.”

He moved from Italy to America that year and was supposed to stay three years. Ferrante has been in the States ever since, living with his wife and daughter in Fort Lauderdale. At FLIBS 2022, Azimut-Benetti sold 16 boats.

“During full Covid, with masks and sanitizer everywhere, we did 23 or 24 boats,” Ferrante says. “Fort Lauderdale is important for the worldwide industry. I have a personal connection to Fort Lauderdale myself, and as a company, the show is the most important and most significant show in the world.”

Quite a few numbers back that up. According to an economic impact study by Thomas J. Murray & Associates, the 62nd edition of the show, in 2021, contributed a statewide economic benefit of $1.79 billion, with direct sales of more than $899 million. The show covered more than 3 million square feet of space, and the estimated value of the products on display was $4 billion. Last year, more than 100,000 visitors from Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, as well as virtually every state in America, visited the show.

Growth Pattern

FLIBS is owned by the Marine Industries Association of South Florida and produced by Informa. The management team made a goal of keeping the show going during the pandemic. “We were one of the only events that ran during Covid,” says Andrew Doole, president of U.S. boat shows for Informa. “In 2021, we had the most sales of any boat show ever, and last year was very successful, as well.”

Renovations to the show’s primary site, the Bahia Mar hotel and waterfront shopping area in Fort Lauderdale, will start in the next 18 months, so there won’t be any impact on this autumn’s event. Doole says portions of Pier 66 North have been added back to the show’s footprint, and most of the North Olas Marina and the Hilton Marina will be back for this year. He’s expecting a 10% increase in the number of boats in the water, totaling more than 700. He’s waiting to hear about yachts larger than 200 feet because many will be at the Monaco Yacht Show, which runs Sept. 27-30. FLIBS starts Oct. 25 and runs through Oct. 29. Most of the exhibitor space at the show was sold out by early August.

One of the biggest investments Informa made has been to infrastructure. “We have seven miles of floating dock, bigger barges, and we’ve invested heavily in power distribution,” Doole says. We’ve tried wherever we can to be generator-free, coming straight from the grid to reduce air and noise pollution. Informa … [has] invested $10 million in equipment.”

On the education side, there will be fishing and diving seminars throughout the show at the convention center. There won’t be a dedicated electric pavilion like there was at the Miami boat show in February, but Poole says electric propulsion products will be grouped with similar equipment.

While some smaller manufacturers have voiced concerns about the cost to exhibit at bigger events like Miami and FLIBS, Doole says he hasn’t heard that from companies planning to attend the shows. “I think the show is competitively priced,” he says. “The sales activity is strong, and the consumers are here, and I think that somebody who is opting out will miss a huge opportunity, and the competition will be there.”

Maintaining a Presence

For the 64th edition of FLIBS, Azimut-Benetti USA will have 16 to 18 boats present. Ferrante says Azimut is still battling inventory challenges, so some of those boats may be borrowed from owners, or may be used models. Benetti will also have models at the Super Yacht Village.

He says Azimut-Benetti invests heavily in the show to give the right impression to potential buyers. “The image we want to give the consumer is one of respect,” Ferrante says. “We have 25 people we fly from Italy to build the display, and they stay the week of the show and take it down and crate it all.” The Azimut booth at FLIBS is staffed by personnel from Italy and dealers from around the world.

Azimut says its buyers are evenly balanced globally, with 33% in the Americas, 33% in Europe and 33% in the Far East. The war in Ukraine and the unstable global economy have affected overall sales. “Russia is an important market for our industry in Europe,” Ferrante says. “If you cut off most of the Russians and add the interest rate in the U.S., we are seeing the impact.”

He also says comparisons to the astronomical sales that boatbuilders experienced during the pandemic shouldn’t be made because they’re not realistic. “When you do comparisons, 2021 and 2022 have been so out of any logic and so powerful in terms of results, to keep going that way would have been impossible,” Ferrante says.

Having a presence in the United States also lets Azimut see the big outboard trend coming before other European builders. “We understood that the outboard world would be coming around 2014 and 2015,” Ferrante says. “I talked to [Azimut founder] Paolo Vitelli, and my idea was to build a center console from the rubrail down, and from the rubrail up I wanted an Italian Azimut yacht.”

The Azimut Verve 40 made its debut at FLIBS in 2016, and 50 of that model were sold. That was followed by the Verve 47 in 2020. Michael Peters designed the Verve 48 that will be introduced at this year’s show. It’s powered by triple 600-hp Mercury V-12 Verados. Other boats in the Azimut display will be the Magellano 60 and Grande 26M.

Stepping Up Its Game

Another builder from across the pond looking to expand its reach at FLIBS is Great Britain’s Fairline Yachts. “Fort Lauderdale has the widest range, from superyachts to paddleboards, and for the American market, it’s key for us to invest in the show more than we had previously done before,” says Steve Leeson, president of Fairline Yachts America. “Fort Lauderdale and Miami are keystone boat shows for the U.S., Canadian, Central and South American markets.”

In 2021, Fairline had one boat, an F//Line 33, on display at FLIBS. Last year, the company had two boats. “The supply-chain issues, which all the manufacturers suffered from, had been a problem,” Leeson says. “We’ve got more production available and more boats arriving at dealers over the course of the past few months.”

This year, the Fairline FLIBS fleet will more than double with five boats. “It’s a cross-section of our model range,” Leeson says. “We’ll have a Squadron 50, a 45 Targa and a new Phantom 65.”

In addition to expanding its display size, Fairline is spending more on marketing going into the show. “We’re going to be beating the drum ahead of the show as well,” he says.

Outside of the show, South Florida is an important region for Fairline because of the potential clientele. “You’ve got year-round boating, and there’s an expat European community that’s already aware of Fairline,” Leeson says.

The company also expects to benefit from recent additions to its dealer network: Strong’s Marine, which has 13 locations in New York, including Long Island, and Nautical Ventures, with its seven dealerships in Florida. “They’re poised to capitalize on the show,” Leeson says.

Regarding the trend of builders adding equipment that makes boating easier, Leeson says Fairline only installs equipment such as stabilizers and autonomous docking assistance after enough customer requests are received. “If there wasn’t a client demand, we wouldn’t put it on,” he says. “Having the joystick controls and the self-mooring and 360-degree cameras and the Seakeeper are allowing people to go out on a boat that they might not have felt more comfortable on before. For many years, there have been linguistic or technical barriers to entry that have not allowed people to step up to a large boat or run a large boat.”

Turning Leads Into Sales

At last year’s FLIBS, Tiara Yachts had 990 sales leads. Those turned into 23 units sold at the show and countless follow-up transactions as well.

“Within the last couple of months, we delivered a 34 LS and a C44 that the dealer met at the Fort Lauderdale show last year,” says Sue Kane, Tiara’s director of sales. The company’s biggest sellers at last year’s show were the 48 LS and the 43 LS.

If a person walks into the booth and just wants to look around, Tiara representatives leave it at that. When someone asks to board a specific model, contact information is taken, and leads are pursued. “We find that our salespeople and dealers have a lot of follow-up after the show,” Kane says.

She says Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach are the company’s three “corporate” shows that Tiara participates in, and she calls FLIBS one of the most important shows, adding, “It’s early in the model year, and it’s that time of year when snowbirds head south. It draws such a huge crowd.”

For 2023, Tiara will have eight boats in the show, with a combination of LS models, the EX 60 and the 48 LE that is making its debut in Fort Lauderdale. The company showed videos of the boat on the show circuit this past year, and it will be unveiled to the company’s 29 retailers at a dealer meeting this summer.

Because FLIBS draws visitors from all over the world, Tiara brings in representatives from all its dealers, plus team members from its Holland, Mich., headquarters. “If you look at the data for the Fort Lauderdale show last year, 49% came from outside the state,” Kane says.

She also looks forward to the dealers coming to the show because many come to the Tiara booth looking to take on the line. At last year’s show, she met some dealers from Missouri who have now given Tiara a presence in the popular Lake of the Ozarks market. Looking at industry trends, she says the outboard market has grown, but there are still folks interested in larger, inboard yachts like the EX 60. “The LE series will accommodate someone who wants to go cruising, but the introduction of the 60 has solidified on the inboard side, as well,” Kane says.

While some companies like to have boats at Bahia Mar and at the convention center, Tiara made the decision to display only in the water a few a years ago. “As the industry continues to grow, there are going to be manufacturers looking to increase their footprint,” Kane says. “Every year, we go back and ask for more space.” 

This article was originally published in the September 2023 issue.