The Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS) held from November 13-15 in Amsterdam, attracted a total of 12,934 visitors, 10 per cent more than last year’s total of 10,330, according to official figures released today by the event’s organiser, Rai group.

This year 11,360 visitors came primarily for METS. The remaining 1,574 were people who had also visited Europort, the trade exhibition for the maritime industry, which was held at the same time in Amsterdam RAI. According to Rai 854 exhibitors came from 32 countries and the visitors represented 85 nationalities.

“We are very satisfied with this edition,” says Ronald Kooyman, product group manager of Amsterdam RAI. “Despite the turbulent economic times, we even managed to attract many more visitors than last year. However, there was a slight drop in the number of visitors from distant countries such as Australia and the United States. On the other hand, many new countries were represented among the visitors. 47 per cent of the visitors came from abroad. The percentage of Dutch visitors was higher than last year, owing to the overlap with Europort.”

As to how visitors responded to the show, METS received an average rating of 7.6 out of 10. A visitor survey indicated that 97 per cent were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the range of exhibits. The visitors spent an average of over five hours at the show. The prospects for the 2002 METS are favourable with almost 90 per cent indicating they planned to return next year.

The next edition of METS will be held in Amsterdam RAI from Tuesday November 19 to Thursday November 21, 2002. Two new pavilions are planned for this edition, namely a Marine Pavilion and a Composites Pavilion. The latter pavilion will be supported by a programme of technical seminars intended above all for boatbuilders, designers and repair yards.