
Friday January 24, 2025
The Palma International Boat Show will expand the exhibition site to a new area to meet the great business demand for the nautical event.
The next edition of the Palma International Boat Show will feature two different exhibition areas connected by sea thanks to the addition of a new 5,000-square-metre area located in the Club de Mar. The organisers had been looking for years for alternatives to expand the exhibition site and be able to accommodate more companies and boats that applied to participate in the Palma boat show, organised by the Regional Ministry of Enterprise, Employment and Energy, through the Regional Development Agency of the Balearic Islands (ADR Balears), and the Balearic Yacht Brokers Association (BYBA). Given the impossibility of growing in the Moll Vell, an agreement has finally been reached with the Club de Mar, which will provide a space for boats of between 40 and 100 metres in length, mainly sailboats, from one-off shipyards. On land, an exhibition area will be set up with service and equipment companies for this type of yachts, such as repair and maintenance industries, naval engineering, shipbuilding and naval interior design, etc.
The Councillor for Enterprise, Employment and Energy, Alejandro Sáenz de San Pedro, who presented the new extension at FITUR, stressed his satisfaction at ‘having been able to respond to a historic demand from the nautical sector that called for the fair to grow. The new Club de Mar is a perfect marina for this type of yachts, with a long tradition and experience in the world of large vessels, which offers all the technical and logistical equipment for this exhibition’.
Sáenz de San Pedro assured that this expansion not only represents a quantitative leap, but above all a qualitative leap in the offer of the Palma boat show, which will become the world’s leading event for superyachts. The councillor stated that this action represents a first experience that aims to consolidate this space for future editions. It is envisaged that, in three years’ time, it will be able to host more than twenty mega-yachts at sea and around forty exhibitors on land.
The two exhibition areas, the Moll Vell and the Club de Mar, will be connected by sea via shuttles that will connect the two areas in a five-minute crossing. Visitors to the Palma International Boat Show will be able to tour the two areas with a single ticket, which will make the experience at the show much more attractive.
It is worth remembering that the Palma International Boat Show has more than forty years of history and is the fair that inaugurates the Mediterranean nautical season. The next edition will take place from the 30th of April to the 3rd of May. With an average of 30,000 visitors per year and the participation of more than 280 companies, it has become an indispensable tool for boosting an economic sector that is essential for the productive fabric of our community. It should be noted that, according to data from the Balearic Marine Cluster study, the marine industry enjoys a strong business ecosystem with more than 850 companies and 5,150 workers.
Each year the sector generates around 1,106 million euros which represents more than 3% of the Balearic GDP.