“Yacht & Boat Korea” Gets Awarded with Admission to IFBSO

SEOUL, June 10 (Korea Bizwire) – “Yacht & Boat Korea,” an international boat show hosted by South Gyeongsang Province and Changwon City of Korea, took a big step forward to its goal of becoming an internationally-renowned maritime convention as it was admitted to the International Federation of Boat Show Organizers (IFBSO).

Up until now, the boat show had to confront with numerous setbacks in the process of affiliating itself with the federation. For instance, in April of 2012, the entry application had been filed for the first time, but as the show was postponed for an indefinite period at the time, the entry request couldn’t be proposed to the federation.

However, after fixing its schedule for the 2015 show in March, the admission to the federation was finally approved this year through efforts of advanced promotions and presentations from the province and the city officials and voting from the members of the federation.

South Korea’s Recreational Boating Market

The recreational boating market in Korea is steadily growing with boat registrations increasing by an average of 16 percent annually, according to the NMMA (The National Marine Manufacturers Association). The country’s extensive natural coastline is ideal for boating with 20 marinas now open and operational and 12 more under construction. Fishing and scuba diving are increasing in popularity too. (source: KIBS)

“Yacht & Boat Korea” will be automatically admitted to the International Council of Marine Industry Associations, which is a sister organization of IFBSO.

The latest admission to the federation of organizers is expected to create some positive outcomes. First of all, the joining will help Yacht & Boat Korea organizers form a global marine industry network as they will be able to take a seat in general assemblies of IFBSO and ICOMIA.

This means that Korean companies in the marine and shipbuilding industry, which have been having a hard time coping with the recent changes in the global economic environment, will face boosted sales opportunities of their yachts, boats, equipment and accessories in both domestic and overseas market.

This will also be a significant leap in fostering “Yacht & Boat Korea” to be an internationally-renowned maritime trade convention and extending its organizers and hosts’ brand images, which means securing effective ways of promotion such as IFBSO websites and numbers of IFBSO-issued magazines.

Moreover, over a 20 percent increase in the number of buyers and global marine leisure companies visiting the show is expected to follow. Thus, the hosting province is anticipating to see its boat show to play a bigger role in providing more specialized exhibition opportunities to companies and thereby nurture its maritime industry.

The “Yacht & Boat Korea” was the first international maritime leisure exhibition hosted in Korea and has been held seven times since 2007.

Since the event in 2013, the convention has substantially reduced its role as a mere exhibitor and has leaned more toward playing a role of business hub by expanding commercial programs such as business meetings, and toward more specialized convention on leisure ship equipment.

As a result, the latest convention generated 67 purchase orders, equivalent to 3.27 billion won, which led to a significant curtailment of the province’s debt. The next one will be held at CECO in Changwon from April 30 to May 3 of 2015.

An official in the provincial government said, “We will continue to bolster the convention’s business programs for it to be more effective and try our best to provide opportunities to enjoy and see cutting-edge maritime leisure equipment.”

Written by John Choi (johnchoi@koreabizwire.com)

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