Despite wet and windy weather, Kiwis were out in record numbers.
Despite wet and windy weather and rapidly increasing cost of living index, Kiwis were out in record numbers for the 67th edition of the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show, held – May 18-21.
After four days and much anticipation most exhibitors came away with a positive feel, with a plenty of sales for trailer boats, engines, electronics and other marine equipment. 7-9m aluminium hardtop trailer boats seemed to be the key sellers despite price tags in the $NZ250k to $NZ600k.
Suzuki, Honda and Mercury also reported excellent sales over the four days, especially in the bigger horsepower engines.
This was the first NZ Boat Show under new owners XPO. Managing Director Brent Spillane says he was delighted with the positive feedback and strong attendance achieved across all 4 days for their first edition of Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show.
“While the final attendance figures are a few days away from confirmation and auditing with our ticketing agency – early indications are that we are very much on par with prior years. This result was no doubt buoyed by XPO’s show databases who they introduced for cross marketing the show”, said Spillane.
He added it was quite the event navigating extreme weather conditions with severe wind gusts proving a challenge with so many outdoor exhibits and marquees. However, many exhibitors pointed out it was perfect conditions to keep boaters off the water and at the show”.
XPO introduced a new technology solution at the show for ticketing and the grand prize entry, replacing the previous stamping booths with scanner booths. This produced what may well be a record number of 24,468 valid entries for the Grand Prize Surtees / Yamaha package worth over $300K. The lucky winner drawn on the Sunday night was 29 year old, self employed builder Blair Morland from the Waikato.
The Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show will return to the Auckland Showgrounds 16-19 May 2024.
