The number of people visiting the Southampton Boat Show was up this year as the show drew to a close yesterday.

122,106 people came through the event’s doors over the 10 days to view 14 boat launches and more than 530 stands, up on 121,671 last year.

Andrew Williams, managing director of National Boat Shows said: ‘We’re delighted to have gained such a strong attendance at the show and have delivered such a spectacle, from both the outstanding products and fabulous attractions for all to get involved with.

‘We’ve hosted more exhibitors and 70 more boats on the marina than last year.

‘The increase in attendance has also delivered incremental opportunities for our exhibitors and at a time of continuing, challenging economic conditions, some positive reports are emerging from a wide selection of exhibitors.’

Boat membership company SailTime launched two initiatives at the show and John Bostock, managing director of SailTime Europe, said: ‘SailTime have had a really exciting show this year.

‘Mike Golding and Ecover joined us to launch SailTime Environmental, which showcases SailTime’s efforts to make our boats more eco-friendly.

‘We also launched SailTime Global Access, which allows our members to use their time allocation at any of the SailTime bases in the UK, Europe and Australia. This means that for a fixed monthly fee SailTime now offers something no other company in the world can.’

Darren Rowlands, sales director of NRG Marine Ltd – manufacturer of the ultrasonic antifouling system Sonihull – said: ‘We are flabbergasted by the amount of sales and interest in our Sonihull system. As we started morning seven of the show, we were well ahead of our show target.’

Business at the show was up 53 per cent on 2009 for Lombard Marine Finance. Head of marine finance, Ian Braham, said: ‘The success of this year’s boat show only serves to reinforce Lombard’s continued commitment to the marine sector.

‘We look forward to supporting purchasers and the industry into the future and have been truly
delighted with the response we received at the show.’

Amanda Taylor of clothing firm SLAM said: ‘The show has been exceptionally good and we’ve been really pleased with the level of footfall to our stand. Having not exhibited for the past two years we will definitely be back next year.’

Raymarine also saw a steady flow of visitors to its stand during the show, where its new products, the T Series Thermal Imaging Cameras and the Sunseeker Predator 84 virtual helm, were on display.

Andy Davies, UK and Ireland sales manager, said: ‘We have had a really good Southampton show this year.

‘The company has changed a lot in the last 12 months. Now Raymarine is owned by FLIR it has meant we have been able to preview new products at the show that use FLIR technology and visitors have been really positive about Raymarine and its range of products.

‘This has resulted in good sales across the full range of our products including our new Thermal Imaging Cameras.’

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