CANNES YACHT FESTIVAL
After a two-year absence, the Cannes Yacht Festival closed on Sunday, September 12, attracting some 54,400 visitors during its six days, matching attendance figures for the 2019 edition, a record year and the last time that the event was held.
The fair brought together 575 exhibitors and 620 ships (including 141 world previews). Despite travel restrictions and the need for Covid testing, around 50% of attendees traveled from abroad, and a good number traveled from outside Europe, according to the organizer.
As in 2019, the CannesYachting Festival was divided between the two ports of Cannes: the Vieux Port and Port Canto. The event was visited on Thursday by the French Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, who toured the show.
“Our ambitious goal for the Festival was to do as well as the 2019 edition in terms of the number of exhibitors, boats and visitors,” said Sylvie Ernoult, Director of the Yacht Festival. ”If the total number of exhibitors (-7%) and boats (-4%) was slightly lower than in 2019, the number of boats presented as global advances increased by 10% and the number of visitors was the same, which is very positive during this time. We are proud and happy with these results ”.
“This edition represented a real challenge at every stage of your organization. We constantly took into account new organizational constraints as the legislation developed and we work closely and efficiently with the Prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, the Sub-Prefect of Grasse and his departments, whom I thank. The closer the opening date got, the more we felt the motivation, the enthusiasm and the growing impatience of our exhibitors and visitors to meet again in Cannes. This edition was incredible to prepare and experiment, both for them and for my team and for me. My memory of this edition will be that it was an incredible human experience. 2021 will continue to be unforgettable in many ways ”.
