22nd Biograd Boat Show - Day 2
by BBS Team 24 Oct 2020 01:29 PDT
21-25 October 2020
During day 2 of the 22nd Biograd Boat Show nautical fair, amazing weather attracted a greater number of visitors that toured the largest nautical fair in this part of Europe, which is one of the only three nautical fairs that took place this year in Europe.
As part of the fair, the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) continued the program of the 4th edition of the Days of Croatian Nautics. The first panel was made up of representatives of every nautical association and representatives of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure.
After the panel, there was a meeting attended by charter associations, as members of the HGK, as well as associations of nautical tourism harbours (marinas). Also, the 2nd edition of the Croatia Charter Expo took place, including an MMK Booking seminar, the first one organised for charter operators and the second one for charter agencies, followed by a BoatBooKing platform presentation.
Apart from the regular attendance by HGK association members, due to a high interest in this difficult year, especially that shown by charterers, an extremely high attendance rate was also seen among owners, operators and heads of charter agencies. This shows that Croatia Charter Expo has been recognised as an event of great importance; that is, that charterers getting together and taking part in a program designed especially for them is fully justified in a country that holds 40% of the world's charter fleet, more than any other country in the world.
More than 30 exhibitors from charter maintenance services and charter companies (representing over 1,600 charter vessels) attended meetings with 30 owners and charter agents during the course of the day. As a result, the approximately 60 charterers that attended, established contacts that cover most of the nearly 5,000 charter vessels in Croatia, forming the largest charter fleet in the world. Apart from the charter agents that physically attended the fair, around ten agents attended as digital visitors through video-conferences. Local charterers were joined by charterers from Great Britain, France, Belgium, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany and Czechia.
Using the B2B (Business to Business) meeting platform, over 300 meetings were set up between exhibitors and visitors, some of which took place today, and some on Friday.
The fair is also accompanied by the Festival of Authentic Products, with around 20 producers showcasing authentic Croatian products, as well as a range of equipment and everything nautics-related.
The fair carries on, with the final part of the HGK Days of Croatian Nautics program and the Croatia Charter Expo program taking place on Friday, after which visitors and the general public are invited to join the fair on Saturday and Sunday.
A tour on Ilirija's event boat "Nada" is also planned, as well as the award ceremony for the participants in the BBS regatta on Sunday, which regularly takes place as part of the fair.
Notably, apart from local exhibitors and visitors, Slovenia, Germany and Austria opening their state borders for travel into Croatia has greatly increased the attendance rate among international exhibitors, as well as the audience. The visitors, as usual, included a significant number of owners of vessels that are permanently moored in Biograd and the waters of Zadar and Šibenik, who have made the most of the nice weather to check on their vessels and also enjoy the fair, as well as to buy some necessary equipment and see what is new in the world of nautics.